DVD reviews
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Solitary Man (DVD)
Year: 2009
Rating: M
Director: Brian Koppelman, David Levien
Cast: Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Danny De Vito
Release Date: August 05, 2010
Distributor: Roadshow
The Film: 4.0
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5Despite a lagging middle section, this is a well made and largely rewarding film.
This second effort from the directors of 2001's cult favourite Knockaround Guys is an immersive, intensive Michael Douglas masterclass. Playing silver fox lothario and disgraced car dealership magnate Ben, Douglas pours his craggy anti-charm into the role opposite a parade of venerable (Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Mary-Louise Parker) and hip (Jenna Fischer, Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots) co-stars, each of whom devotes their estimable talents directly on propping up Douglas' characterisation.
Named for the Neil Diamond song, or more specifically, the late-career Johnny Cash cover, the film is a strong, professionally made, and largely rewarding affair, but is lacking a certain verve. Douglas is a self-involved arse. But he's a familiar arse, and one hardly able to capture the audience's unadulterated revulsion. The actor's failure to arouse our ire leads to the mild dramatic vacuum that is its middle sections.
Still, a film of this pedigree and consistency arriving direct to DVD is more than a bit of a find; if Solitary Man isn't the audition that directors Brian Koppelman and David Levien (regular Soderbergh collaborators who wrote Ocean's 13 and The Girlfriend Experience) need to garner a third feature in a decade, there is no justice.