Solitary Man (2009)

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This one has been sitting on the shelf for a while now.  It's another one of those movies that I set aside primarily due to the boring cover (a terrible habit, I know).  Everyone kept telling me to check it out though, so I threw caution to the wind and rented it.

"Solitary Man" definitely has an interesting story, and that's about it.  This isn't a bad thing though; the story is done really well.  Unlike most movies that focus 100% on the story (e.g. The Ghost Writer), this one actually keeps you interested.  A famous and successful car dealership owner (Ben) decides to take a massive risk and ends up nearly being thrown in jail, and losing everything.  The story follows his struggles from this point on, and all of the trouble he gets himself into.  Every time Ben nearly breaks free of his slump, he throws it all away again due to his tendencies to sleep with everyone. That is pretty much it...

The acting in this movie is top notch, and probably the primary reason why anyone would stay interested.  The actual movie box is honest (which is becoming rare these days) in that it literally is just the story of Ben's life.  There is no humor at all anywhere in it, the tone is completely serious throughout.  You might find some comedy in how badly he fails over, and over, but for the most part its straight drama.

I am not usually a big fan of this style of movie, but it did a good job with what it was trying to accomplish.  Seek it out for a story, but don't expect anything else, and even then, expect it to be pretty forgettable (I watched it last night and am already having trouble recalling it!) The Shawshank Redemption this movie is NOT.

Solitary Man earns a 3/5 for showing me how limited my 1-5 scale is, and how I really should add some 2.5 category or something..

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 10, 2010 at 8:55 PM

    The principal actor is a well-known face, so I think that movie couldn't be so bad, besides, perhaps the style of that movie is not the most popular among the people. The only good thing of this kind of movies is that makes you recap about the "LIFE" lol, (I'm getting deep) I think I'll watch it, thanks for the review =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. SethistoOctober 10, 2010 at 10:02 PM

    @Gansita

    Its not bad at all, its just...average I guess ;p

    I like to reserve 3/5 for good movies that don't really stand out, but are worth watching.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Joel C AnatoliOctober 10, 2010 at 10:25 PM

    Its pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousOctober 10, 2010 at 10:42 PM

    (Ie. Ghostwriter)

    you mean e.g. Ghostwriter

    i.e. is "that is to say"; e.g. is "for example"

    ReplyDelete
  5. SethistoOctober 10, 2010 at 11:02 PM

    @Anonymous

    Changing that right now! Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete

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