MOVIE REVIEW - The Soloist

What if they made a movie with a real good story on the surface, but it didn't really have a point? Well, The Soloist fills that void.

I'm not here to lay this movie out, but sometimes even the most interesting people and stories can get lost somewhere in Hollywood's movie making abyss.

The Soloist stars Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Fox. It's based on a true story, that's since been shown on 60 Minutes and other news shows on cable. It's the story of Nathaniel (Fox) who is a middle-aged homeless man suffering from a lifetime of serious mental illness. To go along with his mental illness, is also a God-given musical talent worthy of Julliard. In fact, he attends the famous arts school in the early 1970's as a cellist, but withdraws because of his deteriorating mental state.

Steve (Downey) is a writer for the Los Angeles Times who is in need of a story. He discovers Nathaniel by happenstance, and writes a series of articles on him in the paper. He listens to Nathaniel's extraordinary gift in the streets of LA as he plays Beethoven on a 2 string violin with precision. Steve then befriends Nathaniel and has a desire to try to assist him in establishing a "normal" life. And to become a life changing friend to a man who has had none.

There are parts of The Soloist that work extremely well. The music is great, and Downey and Fox are both strong in their polar-opposite roles. The supporting cast is fine, and the whole idea of this movie is really intriguing. But there's just something missing here.

The Point. There is none. In the end, the movie sort of throws Steve and Nathaniel out of bounds, and the movie suddenly becomes a movie about homelessness. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but our characters from a movie making perspective are cast aside, with no real resolution, or no real reason for telling this story on film. Maybe it is a better 60 Minute piece. The story is certainly an interesting one, maybe it's just not a movie.

Also, there is an attempt to give you some perspective of what goes on in Nathaniel's troubled mind during certain sequences. Especially when he is deeply moved by classical music. This is done with a collage of wavy colors on screen sometimes for minutes at a time. This certainly does not work. It's overused and fatiguing.

The Soloist has been delayed to the theaters a few times, but it's here now. Originally it was slated for a Christmas release with the rest of the heavyweight movies. Then January, and now the spring. There was talk at one time of Oscar buzz for last year, but that dream died hard. It's certainly made in the style of an Oscar contender. But in reality it's not the movie they thought they had.

The Soloist. Performances good. The rest - marginal.