You kind of know what you're going to get from this film going in and you're right. Here is one of those films that seems to have been put together in the sole design of getting its lead an Oscar nomination and as such, and as usual, it fails - falling flat on its face.
The Soloist is a story of so-so interest that we are told we should be interested in because this is a true story. Yes, but is it one that needed to be told? At least in cinemas? This story is cable movie-of-the-week standard in both writing and direction for the most part with a cynical, calculated performance from Jamie Foxx that seems like he signed up thinking "well better get my acceptance speech ready"! This is Sean Penn in I Am Sam, this is Halle Berry in Things We Lost In The Fire - an example of an actor believing there own press and thinking yeah, i'm good, show me the gold.
As so often (think Benicio Del Toro in Things We Lost) there is another actor genuinely acting his ass off - the ever reliable Robert Downey Jr - but it isn't enough because the director really is only interested in Foxx's central character - it is after all his story despite the fact it comes entirely from Downey's point-of-view - and also because the story just isn't that interesting.
Worthy and a perfectly reasonable time-passer but nothing special.
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