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Movies / Upcoming / The Soloist
The Soloist

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The Soloist (2009)

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55 %
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Reviews Counted: 140

Fresh: 77

Rotten:63

Average Rating: 6.1/10

Consensus: Though it features strong performances by its lead players, a lack of narrative focus prevents The Soloist from hitting its mark.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for thematic elements, some drug use and language

Runtime: 1 min 49 secs

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Apr 24, 2009 Wide

Box Office: $31,670,931

Synopsis: Director Joe Wright (ATONEMENT, PRIDE & PREJUDICE) brings the true story of an unlikely friendship to life in THE SOLOIST. An award-winning columnist with the Los Angeles Times, Steve Lopez (Robert... Director Joe Wright (ATONEMENT, PRIDE & PREJUDICE) brings the true story of an unlikely friendship to life in THE SOLOIST. An award-winning columnist with the Los Angeles Times, Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) ultimately becomes an advocate for L.A.’s homeless population when he meets Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a talented musician who's been playing a two-stringed violin while living on the streets and battling mental illness. Struck by Ayers’s passion for music, Lopez begins to write a series of columns about his new acquaintance while attempting to get him off the streets and playing music again. Amidst numerous achievements and setbacks, Lopez and Ayers develop a friendship based on mutual respect despite their many differences, and Lopez rediscovers his humanity. While the focus of the film is the relationship that develops between the two men, the film also tackles the harsh realities of homelessness and the plight of the mentally ill. Lending authenticity to the story, a number of L.A.’s homeless population were cast as extras in the film. An additional subplot is the quandary that daily newspapers face as the world and the news increasingly go electronic, and popular news becomes more sensationalistic. Foxx is both heartbreaking and life-affirming as Ayers, whose undiagnosed schizophrenia drove him away from Juilliard as a young man, and whose fierce independence keeps him on the streets. Downey Jr. turns in a nuanced performance as Lopez, who finally realizes that while he may not be able to save Ayers, he can accept him as he is. Catherine Keener, Lisa Gay Hamilton, and Tom Hollander appear in supporting roles. [More]

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey, Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey, Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander, Lisa Gay Hamilton

Director: Joe Wright

Director: Joe Wright
Screenwriter: Susannah Grant
Producer: Gary Foster, Russ Krasnoff
Composer: Dario Marianelli
Studio: DreamWorks Distribution LLC

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Reviews for The Soloist

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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In the hands of a director more suited to the material The Soloist might have been a deeply moving experience. Here, we know something important is being played out before us, and there are times when it hits home with force. But in their exercise of dram

Full Review Source: Film.com | comment Comment
06/13/09
Jonathan F. Richards
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

While flawed, The Soloist pulls at your heart. Some might argue the flick is too political, but in these dire economic times it is refreshing to not see glamour and fantasy.

Full Review Source: BET.com | comment Comment
06/10/09
Clay Cane
BET.com

If the movie is trying to help us understand what schizophrenia is, it fails in the attempt.

Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
05/17/09
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope

Too many notes.

Full Review Source: Windy City Times | comment Comment
05/15/09
Richard Knight
Windy City Times

Works enough within its own rules, its own container, but blunts its own real-world impact along the way.

Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
05/14/09
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies

A bit out of tune.

Full Review Source: Illinois Times | comment Comment
05/09/09
Charles Koplinski
Illinois Times

The Soloist illustrates Nathaniel's internal life -- his music and his madness -- in reductive, sensational imagery.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
05/07/09
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

A neat summation of how liberal thinking boils down to one symbol -- a soiled, tattered American flag, emblem of our supposed national shame -- and one phrase: 'Force him.'

Full Review Source: KyleSmithOnline.com | comment Comment
05/05/09
Kyle Smith
KyleSmithOnline.com

This film would have made a terrific short. Director Joe Wright [Atonement] was given the impossible task of making something bigger than it needed to be.

Full Review Source: Spectrum (St. George, Utah) | comment Comment
05/01/09
Bruce Bennett
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

Just because The Soloist is about a homeless person doesn't mean it should have pedestrian direction. But it does -- pedestrian and clodhopping.

Full Review Source: tonymacklin.net | comment Comment
05/01/09
Tony Macklin
tonymacklin.net

It feels like a puzzle with some significant pieces missing.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment 2 Comments
05/01/09
Tasha Robinson
AV Club

For a movie that's about compassion and understanding, it makes for a shockingly indifferent experience.

Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
04/29/09
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing

There's a lot the movie gets right, but fails completely when it tries, cinematically, to depict what schizophrenia is like

Full Review Source: The Trend | comment Comment
04/29/09
Stephen Silver
The Trend

After finally seeing the film, there's no longer much mystery as to why the studio pulled it from awards season.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
04/29/09
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Although ambitious in its lyrical presentation, filmmaker Joe Wright's The Soloist plays a stale tune of cliched melancholy musical chairs.

Full Review Source: Movie Eye | comment Comment
04/29/09
Frank Ochieng
Movie Eye

Just as director Joe Wright conveyed the multiplicity of emotion at the Dunkirk beachhead in Atonement, he conducts his version of downtown L.A. with a maestro's baton.

Full Review Source: Indie Movies Online | comment Comment
04/29/09
Kimberly Gadette
Indie Movies Online

Too bland a presentation to be remembered later on during Oscar time for the 2009 award.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
04/29/09
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A well-acted, finely crafted movie that has everything going for it... except a reason to exist.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
04/29/09
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

The story surely is interesting, but in this form, not terribly enlightening.

Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
04/28/09
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy

Downey and Foxx are the top of their acting game - and so is Keener.

Full Review Source: jackiekcooper.com | comment Comment
04/28/09
Jackie K. Cooper
jackiekcooper.com
 
 
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Latest News for The Soloist

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This week at the movies, weve got bare-knuckle bouts (Fighting, starring Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard), the wonders of nature (Earth, narrated by James Earl Jones), a... More...

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The environment needs saving so Hollywood is doing its part to go green by opening recycled versions of Fatal Attraction and Fight Club in hopes of attracting young adults. In a... More...

April 21, 2009: Five Favorite Films with Director Joe Wright
Earlier this decade, Joe Wright directed two very English movies from two very English novels, both which had the fortune of achieving international crossover appeal. 2005's... More...

April 20, 2009: Jamie Foxx riveting as schizophrenic savant in his best role since Ray. Opens in new window
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