Review: The Soloist

Since "The Soloist" had so much hype surrounding it when it was initially scheduled for release last November, I had pretty high expectations when it finally hit theaters last weekend. It was supposed to be an awards vehicle for Robert Downey Jr. and director Joe Wright, but the movie definitely fell short of Oscar-worthy. Though the performances were strong overall, the movie as a whole did not meet critical expectations.

The story behind "The Soloist" is certainly a moving one. Los Angeles times columnist Steve Lopez (Downey) is recently divorced, somewhat irresponsible in his personal life and fully dedicated to his job. One day he stumbles across Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a mentally ill homeless man and gifted musician.

When Steve finds out Nathaniel was enrolled at Julliard but dropped out when his mental illness set in (likely schizophrenia, though he is never diagnosed), he becomes fascinated with him and decides to write a series of columns about him. As he profiles Nathaniel, Steve discovers first hand the plight of Los Angeles' homeless community. He also discovers a great deal about himself through his growing bond with Nathaniel, who he ultimately considers his friend.

There is no question that "The Soloist" is a very moving and eye-opening story. The bond between Steve and Nathaniel is heart-warming, and the film raises many questions about the homeless population in America. The movie emphasizes how homelessness is often overlooked here and consequently these people aren't receiving the help they need to get back on their feet.

The strongest performance comes from Downey. Steve is the type of role Downey is very comfortable with: irresponsible and flawed yet charismatic and charming with a dry sense of humor. He is most powerful during his more emotional scenes with Foxx, but I don't think I would deem his performance Oscar-worthy. He honestly deserved his nomination for "Tropic Thunder" more. Downey completely threw himself into that role. He had impeccable comic timing as an Australian playing a black man, and that performance was clearly more challenging than his role as Steve.

Foxx was hit-or-miss in this film. A few times it was very clear that he was acting. It felt like he gave a little too much in some of his fast-paced conversations with Downey. But in all fairness, portraying a mentally ill person is probably the most challenging thing an actor can do. It's very difficult to bring out the reality of that kind of role without making it too much of a characterization. The best portrayals of mentally ill people I've seen are all about the nuances the actor uses, and Foxx was strongest in this film when he was nuanced. When he was on, he was really on, particularly during the scenes in which Nathaniel was actually playing an instrument. Foxx showed how Nathaniel truly became lost in the music, and you can see the passion he feels for it in the details of his face.

Catherine Keener also gave a solid performance as Steve's ex-wife and co-worker, but she was drastically underused. It was unfortunate to see someone of Keener's caliber relegated to a role that I often felt the movie could have done without. I wasn't really sure what her purpose was other than to emphasize what a failure Steve was in his personal life. But she did have good chemistry with Downey, and their scenes together were engaging.

The weakest part of the film by far was Joe Wright's direction. It was very uneven, and it felt as though he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He had a much clearer vision with his most notable past films, the sweeping romances "Pride and Prejudice" and "Atonement." His style of directing worked beautifully there, but here it fell flat. He was just not the right fit for this film.

Wright tried way too hard to be artistic when he should have striven for more realism in this case. Yes, the story was beautiful, but he should have let the story speak for itself. Rather than focusing on the overwhelming passion Foxx expressed for his music or the growing admiration in Downey's eyes as he watched him play the cello, Wright inserted unnecessary shots of birds flying, colors swirling or overhead views of Los Angeles. The emotion flowed through Downey and Foxx in those scenes, but Wright's attempts at artistry felt too contrived.

He showed much more realism in the scenes in which Steve visits Nathaniel at the homeless community and interviews some of the other homeless people in the area. It was odd to have these scenes juxtaposed with Wright's other stylized scenes. Had the film retained the more realistic tone its depictions of the homeless had, it would have been far more successful.

Wright also did make a strong directing choice in one of the flashback sequences, though the flashbacks overall felt repetitive as the information they were showing audiences had already been discussed earlier in the film. But in one flashback sequence, the audience can hear every voice going through Nathaniel's head and the distressing things those voices are saying to him. In this scene, you can completely understand how Nathaniel would go crazy hearing those voices constantly, and the pain Foxx conveys is absolutely heartbreaking.

There were also a few facts in the film that I later found out were changed, most notably that in real life, Steve Lopez has never been divorced. He is still happily married. I'm not sure why the writers felt the need to change this, other than to uphold the stereotype that journalists are disorganized and irresponsible people who, while dedicated to their jobs, are a mess when it comes to their personal lives. It would have been perhaps even more compelling to see Steve's struggle to balance his new-found friendship with Nathaniel with his relationship with his family. Steve Lopez also wrote a book about his relationship with Nathaniel, "The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship and the Redemptive Power of Music," which likely presents a more realistic view of their story.

The story of "The Soloist" is so compelling that I would still recommend people see it. Steve and Nathaniel's relationship is inspiring and the film's portrayal of the homeless should resonate deeply with viewers. The movie had a lot of potential, but unfortunately it fell short in its execution. But even though its direction was disappointing, the film does have some positives, particularly in its performances. "The Soloist" tells a significant story, and though it was not told as well as it could have been, it is more important that it was at least told. B-