In a rare moment of insight, Ben Kalmen (Michael Douglas) says that he feels invisible. Used to attracting the attention of women and the respect of men, this once powerful man feels irrelevant. Michael Douglas proves that he is anything but irrelevant with a strong and nuanced performance in Brian Koppelman and David Levien’s Solitary Man. He is helped by a first rate supporting cast, fine direction and a thoughtful screenplay.

When Ben (Douglas) learns from his doctor that he may have a heart problem, Ben dismantles his life. The once successful and honest car dealer commits fraud and loses his business and his money. He divorces his wife Nancy (Susan Sarandon) and chases younger women. He never goes back to the doctor. But when accompanying his girlfriend’s daughter Allyson (Imogen Poots) to her college interview at his alma mater, his perspective changes, in large part due to Allyson, old friend Jimmy (Danny DeVito) and new friend Daniel (Jesse Eisenberg). But can Ben really change or is it too late?

Michael Douglas does an excellent job of making a somewhat reprehensible character likeable. He is onscreen for most of the film, and I never tired of watching him. The 66 year old actor is still attractive and charismatic. His sex scenes are hot, yet at the same time uncomfortable. His success with younger women is believable, yet when a college student at a party asks him, “Aren’t you a little old for this?” we agree that he is. Much of the humor here is the kind that makes you cringe with embarrassment for Ben, as when he instructs his grandson to call him dad, and not granddad, as he tries to catch the eye of a younger woman. “Give me a hug, maybe she will think we are married,” he tells his grown daughter. Douglas does a terrific job of playing Ben as a guy completely unaware of his age and the way his actions hurt others.  But Douglas makes us feel for Ben and we see his insecurity as he flashes a tentative smile that does not reach his eyes as he begins to confront the truth about his life.

Danny DeVito gives a restrained and sincere performance as old friend Jimmy, a man who is the opposite of Ben. As Ben looks around the college diner Jimmy runs, he asks if Jimmy is ever tempted by the attractive coeds.  Showing the self-awareness that Ben lacks, Jimmy explains that the girls are not exactly chasing him. “I look and go right back to what I am doing,” he explains.  Devito and Douglas have an easy rhythm in their scenes together and are very convincing as old friends.  Jesse Eisenberg, so good in The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland, Zombieland and everything else he is in, brings his usual sensitivity and charm to Daniel Cheston, the young college student Ben befriends. Daniel looks up to Ben as Ben teaches him to talk to girls and encourages Daniel to explore the college life that is “nothing but possibilities.” Yet Daniel sees, as we do, that Ben has a darker side, and that there is something quite pathetic about a man like Ben going to college parties. Douglas and Eisenberg’s scenes are among my favorites; they are both funny and sad. 

 Directors Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Koppleman also wrote the screenplay) strike a nice balance here in making a film that is contemplative, but not ponderous, and still funny.  I absolve them for writing the terrible screenplay for Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience.  Solitary Man has all the substance and subtlety that film lacked. What resonates here is that Ben does much more than confront his mortality; he confronts his relevance. I liked the ambiguous ending, because the choice Ben will eventually make is irrelevant. What matters is that he realizes he has a choice.

Solitary Man.  Directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien.  Michael Douglas (Ben Kalmen), Susan Sarandon (Nancy Kalmen), Danny DeVito (Jimmy Merino), Mary-Louise Parker (Jordan Karsch), Jenna Fischer (Susan Porter), Imogen Poots  (Allyson Karsch), Jesse Eisenberg (Daniel Cheston) and Olivia Thirlby (Cheston’s Girlfriend). Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2010.

 

Gail sees a movie appears every Wednesday.

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