Review: Solitary Man

Grade: B+

About six and a half years ago, Ben Kalmen was at the top of his game, he was the owner of best line of car dealerships to go to in the northeast; he had a great wife and an amazing daughter. Then when a doctor tells him that they want to take some tests to check out his heart, Ben’s life gets flipped upside down. Ben makes a couple bad romantic and business decisions and is now living in hard times, but is trying to turn it all around again. Then he makes one last bad decision and that completely throws him down. Now he’s trying to salvage his relationship with his daughter and his grandson as well as trying to figure out who he is and what is important in his life.

Michael Douglas (King of California, Romancing the Stone) plays the lead role of Ben Kalmen, once known as the “most honest car salesmen in New York”. Douglas gives an amazing performance in this movie and really made this movie. He does such a great job with the role, which was a very interesting role. The character of Ben Kalmen is a very interesting man. He is extremely honest, brutally so sometimes, he is strong willed, he is stubborn and he is a borderline sexaholic who essentially prays on women younger than his daughter. Somehow, Douglas manages to make this character an almost likeable character and he was pretty funny at times.

The rest of the cast is pretty spectacular as well. Jenna Fischer (Blades of Glory, TVs The Office) plays Susan Kelman, Ben’s daughter. She did an amazing job with this role. It is the first really dramatic role I’ve seen her do and she really pulled it off. Susan Sarandon (Speed Racer, Enchanted) plays Nancy Kelman, Ben’s ex-wife. She did a pretty good job with this role too and was pretty funny when she needed to be. Danny DeVito (Nobel Son, Be Cool) plays Jimmy Merino, an old friend of Ben’s from college. DeVito was great in this movie, even though he’s not in it a whole lot, but his character is great and he played it well. The movie also features performances from Imogen Poots, Richard Schiff, Mary-Louise Parker and Jesse Eisenberg.

This dark comedy is kind of charming and fun to watch. It is actually pretty funny at times and well worth watching. I recommend checking it out whenever you can, especially if you like Michael Douglas.

Great quote: “I say a whole lot of stuff, some of it’s even the truth.”