With a cast including Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Jesse Eisenberg and Danny DeVito, one wonders why a film such as 'Solitary Man' fails to hit the mark. It all comes down to the concept promulgated by co-directors Brian Koppelman and David Levien. Simply put, films about losers (or sad sacks as I like to call them), more often than not, don't work! Why is it that Majorie Baumgartner, writing in the Austin Chronicle, concludes that, "The actors are all charged up, too; there's just nowhere in this script for them to go?" That's because everything about Ben Kalmen (Douglas' shark who has seen better days) is pre-ordained. From the outset, the former car dealership honcho is a self-sabotaging boor who after losing all his millions, attempts to manipulate women (including his own daughter) so he can take their money to bankroll new schemes of pure self-entitlement.
Sure there are a few real-life stories of sharks such as Kalmen who fall from grace; but those aren't the interesting ones. Far more interesting is the bad guy who succeeds—A Tony Soprano who is both maniacal and charming at the same time. There will always be interesting, conflicting characters who oppose a Tony Soprano—and there's always the hope that someone will stop him (but sometimes we want Tony to get the better of his opponents—even though we know deep down, he's not an honorable or ethical human being). But in the case of a Ben Kalmen, the perennial has-been loser, it's hard to root for someone who is so unpleasant.
I have no doubt that the films' scenarists' strategy is to hold up Kalmen's story as a cautionary tale. Unlike Michael Douglas' iconic, charming rogue 'Gordon Gekko', whose 'Greed is good' philosophy is the underpinning of the insightful and entertaining 1987 film 'Wall Street', what we're supposed to get from the 'Solitary Man' is that 'greed is bad'.
Kalmen simplistically is driven by greed and that's why he uses women. Ultimately, the filmmakers try to make a case for Kalmen that he's charming but he also must be punished. The 'charming' moments only involve male-bonding: his affection for his son, the dating advice he gives to impressionable student, Crestin (Jesse Eisenberg), as well as the mutual affection between Kalmen and long-lost friend Jimmy Marino (but such bonding only goes so far; Kalmen sabotages his relationship with Jimmy, failing to acknowledge his old friend's true spirit of generosity).
As to his relationships with women, it's one monstrous fling after another. Kalmen beds the 17 year old daughter of his girlfriend, while he accompanies her on a trip to look at a college campus. When the girlfriend's daughter reveals that Kalmen went to bed with her, the mother reverses her decision to pull strings, to aid Kalmen, so he can get back into the auto dealership business. Then Kalmen is cut off by his own daughter, after she learns he had an affair with the mother of one of her young son's friends. Soon afterward, Kalmen hits on Crestin's girlfriend while he's drunk at a party. Crestin, generous in spirit, excuses Kalmen, accepting the excuse that he was intoxicated. The final coup de grace is when Kalmen is beaten up by an ex-police officer, hired by his former girlfriend, who doesn't want him to be anywhere in the vicinity of her daughter, the one who Kalmen slept with.
At the beginning of the film we learn that Kalmen has a heart condition but never follows up with the doctors. His explanation to his ex-wife as to why he chose not to go for the follow-up check-ups is perhaps the only real brilliant moment in the film (in essence, Kalmen concludes the check-ups are more beneficial to the doctors than to the patients, since his condition is more a lifestyle issue than something the doctors can really successfully treat). Nonetheless, the alarming diagnosis and Kalmen's decision to ignore it, fails to provide a cogent explanation for his continuing bad behavior.
In the end, the cautionary tale of a sad sack loser, driven by greed and a desperate obsession to manipulate women, doesn't quite ring true. There's something a little too pathetic about a Ben Kalmen and the filmmakers attempt to humanize him, falls flat. Better to focus on a character with an ego, who gets away with his bad behavior, instead of offering up a drab morality play, where the loser gets his predictable comeuppance.
Sure there are a few real-life stories of sharks such as Kalmen who fall from grace; but those aren't the interesting ones. Far more interesting is the bad guy who succeeds—A Tony Soprano who is both maniacal and charming at the same time. There will always be interesting, conflicting characters who oppose a Tony Soprano—and there's always the hope that someone will stop him (but sometimes we want Tony to get the better of his opponents—even though we know deep down, he's not an honorable or ethical human being). But in the case of a Ben Kalmen, the perennial has-been loser, it's hard to root for someone who is so unpleasant.
I have no doubt that the films' scenarists' strategy is to hold up Kalmen's story as a cautionary tale. Unlike Michael Douglas' iconic, charming rogue 'Gordon Gekko', whose 'Greed is good' philosophy is the underpinning of the insightful and entertaining 1987 film 'Wall Street', what we're supposed to get from the 'Solitary Man' is that 'greed is bad'.
Kalmen simplistically is driven by greed and that's why he uses women. Ultimately, the filmmakers try to make a case for Kalmen that he's charming but he also must be punished. The 'charming' moments only involve male-bonding: his affection for his son, the dating advice he gives to impressionable student, Crestin (Jesse Eisenberg), as well as the mutual affection between Kalmen and long-lost friend Jimmy Marino (but such bonding only goes so far; Kalmen sabotages his relationship with Jimmy, failing to acknowledge his old friend's true spirit of generosity).
As to his relationships with women, it's one monstrous fling after another. Kalmen beds the 17 year old daughter of his girlfriend, while he accompanies her on a trip to look at a college campus. When the girlfriend's daughter reveals that Kalmen went to bed with her, the mother reverses her decision to pull strings, to aid Kalmen, so he can get back into the auto dealership business. Then Kalmen is cut off by his own daughter, after she learns he had an affair with the mother of one of her young son's friends. Soon afterward, Kalmen hits on Crestin's girlfriend while he's drunk at a party. Crestin, generous in spirit, excuses Kalmen, accepting the excuse that he was intoxicated. The final coup de grace is when Kalmen is beaten up by an ex-police officer, hired by his former girlfriend, who doesn't want him to be anywhere in the vicinity of her daughter, the one who Kalmen slept with.
At the beginning of the film we learn that Kalmen has a heart condition but never follows up with the doctors. His explanation to his ex-wife as to why he chose not to go for the follow-up check-ups is perhaps the only real brilliant moment in the film (in essence, Kalmen concludes the check-ups are more beneficial to the doctors than to the patients, since his condition is more a lifestyle issue than something the doctors can really successfully treat). Nonetheless, the alarming diagnosis and Kalmen's decision to ignore it, fails to provide a cogent explanation for his continuing bad behavior.
In the end, the cautionary tale of a sad sack loser, driven by greed and a desperate obsession to manipulate women, doesn't quite ring true. There's something a little too pathetic about a Ben Kalmen and the filmmakers attempt to humanize him, falls flat. Better to focus on a character with an ego, who gets away with his bad behavior, instead of offering up a drab morality play, where the loser gets his predictable comeuppance.