Solitary Man Review
By David Kempler
Self-Absorbed Man
While watching "Solitary Man", which is co-directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, I found it impossible not to compare the public perception of Michael Douglas with his character, Ben Kalmen. I realize that in reality, the public has not a clue as to what makes Douglas tick, but he sure does seem to come across as a womanizing horn-dog, at least on film. Same goes for Ben Kalmen. Hopefully, the real Douglas isn't as vapid as Kalmen.
Ben is a big-name car dealer, or rather he used to be. He was one of those guys you see on television spouting off about their enormous chain of dealerships, and why you have to run down there right now to get yourself the "deal of a lifetime". But it has all fallen apart for Ben. He has been to jail for fraud and he's now trying to re-create his empire by using his wife's (Mary Louise Parker) father's money. The problem is that Ben can't keep it in his pants and no one is out-of-bounds, not even his own stepdaughter, whom he accompanies on a trip to look at a potential university, because her mother is ill.
Ben's penchant for the ladies was once looked at by others with a nod and a wink, but at this point in his life almost everyone looks at him as a dirty-old-man. His first wife (Susan Sarandon) is long gone but still has a soft spot in her heart for him despite the way he screwed her over. He's good at his game. He always apologizes for his indiscretions, and in the past, that sufficed. But now, his world is totally falling apart and he can't reverse his downfall. That he sees himself as blameless for everything, and instead as a victim, is the most revealing part of his character.
"Solitary Man" is a story about a man who is at once a success and a failure. The co-directors take us through the evolution of his downfall in a way that we can't help but believe. There is no glossing over his shortcomings. That they felt the need to end it the way they did, struck me as contradictory to everything that preceded it, but upon reflection, that is probably the way it would have ended in real life.
