Movie Review--The Soloist

Hollywood thinks I'm stupid. The worst part is they might actually be right. They make shamelessly manipulative, blatantly stupid, painfully predictable, or just plain bad movies and hope that I'll pay to watch them. And I do. Every week. Shame on me. To their credit, there are some good films being made; it's more than offset by the bad ones out there, unfortunately.

I love the whole experience of movies. I love the dark theatre, the slight chill that makes me want a jacket, munching on salty popcorn that I inevitably drop down my shirt and into my purse, and the overwhelming volume of the surround speakers. Wednesday is my weekly "Mom's Night Out", when I run away from the family and have a quiet dinner with a book, see a movie, and do some solo shopping at Target. I see, on average, one movie per week--most of them on Wednesdays. No crowds, no lines, and very few shrieking teenagers--all things that make it even easier to love going to the movies!

My movie options for last night were Hannah Montana, Earth, Monsters vs Aliens, State of Play, Fighting, Obsessed, Knowing, Fast & Furious, The Soloist, Crank High Voltage, and I Love You, Man.

I tend to choose my movies in part based on their Rotten Tomato score--anything lower than a 50% requires a strong recommendation from a trusted source, like Roger Ebert--so Hannah Montana, Fighting, Obsessed, and Fast & Furious weren't even options. I've already seen Monsters vs Aliens (tolerable), State of Play (enjoyable, but too long), Knowing (painfully predictable--shame on you, Roger Ebert, for misleading me!), and I Love You, Man (surprisingly entertaining), and I'm saving Earth to watch with my 3-year-old daughter. That left The Soloist (57% RT rating).

I've been seeing previews for The Soloist for months now. Months and months. I believe the release was delayed at least once for some reworking of the film, which should have been a clue.

I like Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey, Jr., and Catherine Keener, and they do some darn fine acting in this film, which is apparently based on a true story. Unfortunately, there's not much story to the true story, at least as seen in the film--a newspaperman, desperate for a story, discovers that there are thousands of homeless people in LA, and that at least one of them had a life and a story before he became homeless. Sorry, but this isn't a surprise--or a story--to me. The movie only lasted 109 minutes, but it felt closer to four hours. My advice: skip it.