The Soloist (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:181
Fresh:99
Rotten:82
Average Rating:5.9/10
Consensus: Though it features strong performances by its lead players, a lack of narrative focus prevents The Soloist from hitting its mark.
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... [More]
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey, Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander
Director: Joe Wright
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Reviews for The Soloist
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 2.5/4 |
"The Soloist" is not a film in which you anticipate Robert Downey Jr. will be twice doused in urine. Such are the territorial markings of Joe Wright, whose directorial quirks undermine moving moments and committed performances in this musical biopic. Full Review |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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4/5 |
Intelligent and uncompromising, with knock-out performances from Downey Jr. and Foxx. Full Review |
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4/5 |
A deliriously imperfect film – and all the better for it. Full Review |
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4/5 |
The Soloist brings to life its story with genuine compassion, neatly avoiding many of the traps that afflict Hollywood films about mental illness. And Jamie Foxx's transformation will simply astound. Full Review |
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 2/5 |
Ultimately, the reason that The Soloist fails is because the writer and the director have been bamboozled by the seriousness of the subject matter. Full Review |
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2/5 |
A handsomely made but tonally uncertain film; it's unsure whether to be an old-fashioned inspirational heartwarmer, or a paranoid prose-poem about ruined lives on the city's dangerous margins. Full Review |
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4/5 |
The Soloist has its imperfections, but its ambition trumps them. Full Review |
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Wright’s major mistake is the flashback to Nathaniel’s background. Mundane, TV movie simplistic and, ironically, very middle-class patronising, it causes the film’s trajectory to go limp. Full Review |
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2/5 |
The Soloist isn't the cringe-worthy Rain Man rip-off it might have been, but that's the only surprise this film has to offer. If it were a piece of music, it would be the kind you hear in a lift when you're stuck between floors... Full Review |
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3/5 |
Thankfully, there's no contrived Hollywood ending but you can't help thinking this is more a three-minute wonder than a dramatic symphony. Full Review |
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2/5 |
Thanks to heavy-handed treatment, this true story ultimately feels like a work of mannered fiction. Full Review |
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2/5 |
A rich cocktail of all Hollywood's most endemic clichés, it would be easy to apply to The Soloist that rebuking tag, 'Oscar bait'. Its every move is calculated to pleasure and provoke the liberal classes, if only gently. Full Review |
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2/5 |
Foxx is an Oscar-winner thanks to his uncanny impersonation of Ray Charles in Ray, but he plays Ayers as a multitude of tics and non sequiturs. He is hampered by Susannah Grant's muddled screenplay. Full Review |
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2/5 |
This veers a little too haphazardly between being a message movie and one of those films about an unlikely friendship. In the end, it fails to work as either. Full Review |
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The Soloist is a moving and well-made film, but you just can't help feeling it is a little too contrived and simplistic. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Joe Wright, who did a brilliant job with Atonement, powerfully reveals the terrible treatment of America's homeless community. Full Review |
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3/5 |
The revelation of poverty, squalor and mental illness in LA’s underclass is horrific. But the film suffers from uncertainty of tone. Full Review |
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2/5 |
Its oddness is chastening: what's ostensibly a triumph-of-the-spirit number doesn't make you feel very triumphant after all. Full Review |
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3/5 |
A genuinely moving story is wrung dry by filmmaking that strains to punch every emotional plot point. Solid performances and some edgy insight can't quite rescue it, although the extraordinary true events retain real power. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for The Soloist
April 23, 2009:
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April 23, 2009:
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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. 
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