Movie Review - The Soloist

Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright serves up a somewhat uneven film in The Soloist, based on L.A. Times' reporter Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) and his relationship with homeless musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx).

The acting is pretty good; Ayers' delight over a gifted cello brought tears to my eyes. The music is incredible - listening to Beethoven's 3rd Symphony in surround sound was truly awesome. But overall there seems to be a few things out of place.

During the scene with Beethoven's 3rd the audience is treated to a Fantasia-esque spectacle of light, color and motion. Obviously, it's supposed to represent what Ayers feels or sees when he experiences music, but it's the only scene in the movie where it happens, and after the first ten seconds, it gets pretty boring and doesn't have as much of an emotional impact like when Lopez watches Ayers play in the street tunnel. It just doesn't fit.

We don't find out that Lopez's editor is also his ex-wife until halfway through the film. I would think that would be useful information. Also the urine gags were unnecessary.

There are a few scenes which explain Ayers backstory, but fall short of actually explaining how he ended up homeless in L.A. Much of Ayers' story seems whitewashed for cinema; I found out later online that Ayers did attempt treatment for his mental illness (it's suggested schizophrenia in the film) and underwent shock therapy. This was never covered in the film.

Like other films whose characters are based on real-life people, the ending is left fairly unsatisfying and open-ended. It just seems to end with a "look how much good we did!" message. I think they should have either went for the pretentious-newspaper-guy-makes-a-scoop story, or the homeless-guy-gets-discovered-and-redeemed story. I'm never quite sure what kind of point the film is trying to make.

Joe Wright is known for his extra-long shots, but I don't recall one being in this film. It may have been during the homeless riot scene, but I'm not sure.

On the other hand, it was nice as an Angelino to recognize parts of downtown on the big screen. This would be an enjoyable rental, unless you *really* want to hear Beethoven in the theater. It's a high quality recording. I enjoyed the film, and if it didn't feel directed-by-committee it probably would have been a lot better.