Nice effects though.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Ben Kalmen (Michael Douglas) is divorced from Nancy (Susan Sarandon). He is loved by daughter Susan (Jenna Fischer) despite his womanizing and the mess from his corrupt car dealership empire. He had come close to prison for fraud. He is trying to rehabilitate his reputation and buy a dealership with the help of his connected girlfriend Jordon Karsch (Mary-Louise Parker). He takes her daughter Allyson (Imogen Poots) for a college interview at his alta-mater and ends up sleeping with her. He befriends awkward college student Daniel Cheston (Jesse Eisenberg) and reconnects with Jimmy Merino (Danny DeVito) who owns the family deli.The central performance is great. Ben is not sympathetic but Douglas infuses him with humanity. He's a terribly flawed and damaged character. The drawback is the constant turnover of character which doubles back. It would have been more effective staying with the mentorship with Eisenberg or the perverted relationship with the mother and daughter. Doubling back does feel awkwardly manufactured. There is a possibility that he's going back for Allyson but that's not the case. It's just weird although reconnecting with Daniel does give fruit to a good turn.

This movie dramatizes the human condition from two points of view; one, the human life as pretension, and two, human life as being finite. In this story, a man, Ben Kalmen, is running away from himself and in the process reveals his real nature. This apparent dichotomy drives the story. Kalmen is trying to escape from the truth, which terrifies him, and instead learns who he really is and what he is really about, which is the epitome of ugliness. The movie introduces Kalmen as being apparently a well-adjusted successful businessman, the kind of person who is considered mainstream and part of the bulwark of society. Six and half years later, his life has become a disaster, of his own making. His life is now a series of acting-out misadventures, the goal of which is to gain immediate physical gratification, no matter what the consequences. His responsibilities to families, friends and business no longer mean anything to him. As a result, he has alienated his friends and relatives, has been blackballed by his business associates and finds himself to be alone, a condition that he finds intolerable. Yet, it also reveals his truth about himself: that is in fact a rotten scoundrel and that up until six and half years ago his life was a fraud. What triggered all this was a routine medical examination which found that he may have a heart condition requiring further evaluation. Instead of dealing with it, Kalmen flees, fearing for his life. Now terrified that his life will soon end, he starts acting out, and ruins his life, in a matter already described. So, what the story dramatizes is a man running away from the truth while at the same time having to deal with the truth - about himself. When he was successful his life was a sham, he was acting a role, one that provided a certain amount of gratification but nonetheless was superficial. All along he wanted to act out, to be center stage, and while his props were in place, his selfish needs were being met. But after the shock from learning that his life could end, those props could no longer suffice because they meant gratification delayed, and he wanted all of it - the sex, the drinking, the acting out - before he died. Hence Ben Kalmen's life becomes a travesty and his conduct a grotesque caricature of a man who is trying to be cool when in fact he is a mess.This movie is about one's sense of mortality. How is one to deal with the undeniable fact that one day you will die. How is one supposed to cope with uncertainty? How is one supposed to react to a doctor wanting to run another test? What is one supposed to do? No matter what choice is made, the results are not pleasant. This is the case because either way one has to deal with the fact of their own mortality, that life is fleeting and that it will end. Life is reduced to a crap shoot. Michael Douglas gives one of his best performances as a man who is terrified by the thought of his own mortality. The medical test becomes a metaphor for forces that are beyond one's control. Douglas's character, Ben Kalmen, is terrified and this terror distorts his thinking. How is one to live when one does not know how much longer they will be alive?

You might get through Life pretty much Unscathed if You Indulge in One of the Seven Deadly Sins (Lust), but Two (Greed), probably Unsurmountable. Such is the Case with Michael Douglas in this Character Study about a Very Successful Businessman in the Winter of Discontent.He is on His way Down and Out, but the Silky Charm is still there and a Complete Embrace of Self Confidence. In the Film, He never "looks" like He is Suffering much. However, His Life is in total Freefall.It is a One-Note Movie but its Resonance is Profound and the Cast of Aging Stars and some Quality Newcomers aid a rather Thin Script and Story. It is a Quality Film, with Professionalism and a certain Wit without Cynicism. It is not Layered and is right there on Screen for the Viewer to take in and it is a Smooth Operation to say the Least.The Movie Glides along its way Effortlessly and is Charm with a bit of Bite. In Fact, it is so good You may want more of it. But that is not to be. Its like the best cut of Steak possible, but only Served in 4 ounce Proportions. The enjoyment of this will depend on the amount of Self-Reflection You engage, and will undoubtedly appeal to an Older Audience and the Movie and its Cautionary Tale will most probably be Overlooked by those who would benefit the Most. Those Folks, especially Men, who are still Young Enough.

Hollywood, like the lead character in this movie deserves Zero viewers. Why pay hard earned money to watch a corrupt individual's despicable actions? From the onset of the movie it is clear the man is a womanizer, he shows more attention to a women in the diner that he's attending with his ex-wife and son, than he does to his flesh and blood son. I quickly alerted my wife, "the man is a womanizer". And the movie goes on to explicitly show how low of character the lead is, in a borderline pornographic way. The act that is the climax of the movie is despicable. I am highly disappointed with the movie "Solitary Man" -- it highlights the worst of human nature and it saddens me that millions of dollars were spent that could have influenced society in a positive way, but instead lower the bar to the savage level.