The Soloist
Dir: Joe Wright
2009
*
The Soloist was a huge disappointment for me as the trailer had made it look great. Okay, so Jamie Foxx's performance was very good and if Steve Lopez is as unlikable in real life as I suspect he is, Robert Downey Jr played him perfectly. The problem is that the film tries too hard to pull at the heart strings and in doing so it fails miserably. The film flicks clumsily between the present and the past and the characters never seem true to themselves and change without reason. The overall production is just plain lazy. A man's 20 year decent into mental illness is explored by merely shaking the camera for 5 minutes. Way to go Joe Wright! Also, we are supposed to be amazed by this talented 'Soloist' cellist but whenever he plays you hear a whole orchestra. Couldn't they have hired a profession cellist for the day? Don't get me started on the abysmally tasteless scenes with the homeless. Contrived nonsense written by an unlikable parasite of a man. Bitterly disappointing.