Solitary Man (DVD)

Michael Douglas, I'm afraid, will never quite have the dominant screen presence his flamboyant father, the legendary Kirk Douglas, had. However, having said that, I must comment that the younger Douglas gives one of the finest performances of his career in this presentation. He plays Ben Kalmen - a man who once had everything: a successful car dealership with all that comes with it; a healthy bank balance, and plenty of good friends and contacts. However, he has now lost it all due to bad business decisions and romantic indiscretions. He is going broke, borrowing money from his daughter Susan, and is unwilling to accept his age, a heart problem, and a continuing sexual appetite. His wife, Nancy (Susan Sarandon) has long since parted company with him, and he is not above sleeping with Allyson (Imogen Poots) - the teenage daughter of his current girlfriend Jorden Karsch (Mary Kouise Parker) - a fact which Allyson is only too keen to blurt out to her mother! This indiscretion causes her to withdraw her financial support for Ben to open a new car dealership.

Yes, this fellow is a real rotten egg! He owes rent to several landlords, and the only job he can get is waiting tables at the small diner of Jimmy Marino (Danny DeVito), an old college friend. In fact, the character of Ben evokes little sympathy from us, the audience, at all. The guy is a big-time loser, and he only has himself to blame for it all!

It's really a kind of a depressing movie - though the acting performances from Douglas and Sarandon are positively electric; and raises the whole thing well above what I have to confess I was expecting.

Verdict: not for everybody... but worth the effort for those who enjoy and respect superior cinema acting.

Ben once ruled a car-dealership empire vast enough to fuel a glossy Manhattan lifestyle and endow a library at an East Coast university. But by the time he arrives at the college with his girlfriend’s daughter, Allyson, who is a prospective student, his world has collapsed around his ears.

A business scandal has cost him his income and his marriage to Nancy. His ever-present lust for every passing attractive woman threatens to take what little Ben has left. Even his new relationship with Jordan oscillates with tension.

So when Ben takes Allyson to tour the school, his motives are more than mixed.

General

Studio:	Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Release date:	October 2010
Movie released:	2009
Actors:	Michael Douglas • Susan Sarandon • Danny DeVito • Jesse Eisenberg
Dimensions:	192 x 137 x 15mm (L x W x T)
Format:
Running time:	1 hour, 30 minutes
Region encoding:	Region 2. This DVD will play in all South African DVD players.
Audio format:	Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages:	English
Age restriction:	15 L
Categories:	DVD > Comedy DVD > Drama DVD > Feature Film
LSN:	XK3-G64-8PE-6
Barcode:	5060052419712

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