Solitary Man (2010) R

This is an interesting film starring Michael Douglas (Wall Street, Traffic), as Ben Kalmen. Six years ago he was on top of the world. He ran a chain of car dealerships around the New York City area. He was on the cover of magazines. But his whole world was turned upside down after a shady business deal went wrong. Now Ben is a divorced, job-less, womanizer. This film was written and directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Knockaround Guys).

Ben's ex-wife Nancy is played by Susan Sarandon (In the Valley of Elah, Mr. Woodcock). His daughter Susan is played by Jenna Fischer (Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story). His relationship with the two has fizzled over the years. He still gets along with Nancy but they barely see each other. He also gets along well with Susan and his grandson. But he frequently is a no show to their engagements. Susan is fed up with his shenanigans.

Ben is dating a rich woman with connections, named Jordan (Mary-Louise Parker). Ben is only interested in her connections. Jordan has a daughter named Allyson (Imogen Poots), who wants to get into Ben's Alma mater (Harvard). Ben has connections at the school. Against his will, he takes the 18-year-old to the campus to put in the good word for her. While on campus Ben befriends young Cheston (Jesse Eisenberg). Ben gives Cheston advice on women and they hit up a campus party together. Ben stops by his old favorite sandwich shop, which is now run by his friend Jimmy (Danny DeVito). They catch up for a few minutes before Ben heads back to his hotel room. He meets up with Allyson and lures her to his bedroom. That's when things begin to spiral out of control for Ben.

Ben thinks he finally catches a break with a new dealership. But after Allyson tells her mother about what happened that weekend, Jordan's connections end that transaction. Ben has to move from his luxurious estate to a small studio apartment. His daughter won't let him see his grandson and his wife is telling him, "I told ya so." Things have hit an all time low, or so he thinks. He moves into his old friend Jimmy's house in Boston and works for him at the Sandwich shop. The walls begin to collapse around Ben. Everything that has happened to Ben has been well deserved. He's ruthless, disgusting, coldblooded, shocking, but exciting. He doesn't believe in stability.

He doesn't learn a thing from his experiences and has lost touch with humanity. He is a solitary, lonely, friendless man. Can he patch things up with his loved ones? The ending isn't conventional but neither is Ben. Douglas is at his very best, and I mean that. The supporting cast is fantastic. There were two major flaws for me. One, there aren't enough laughs. It's supposed to be a drama/comedy, but it's mostly just sad. Two, it's way too short at only 90 minutes. I have a hard time believing they couldn't came up with 15-20 more minutes of film. I think this is a film people should seek out. All the performances are great and it's fun to watch Douglas unravel.
B-