I don’t really care for Michael Douglas as an actor, but in his old age he has taken a few quirky roles that really allow him to transcend the plastic seriousness that has plagued his career all his life. He was fabulous in King of California, and he was really good in the film being reviewed here: Solitary Man.

What is really interesting to me is that his character’s downward spiral is caused by a routine physical where a doctor doing tests finds “something” – it doesn’t even matter what. Basically, it sends him off the deep end! If he never had the physical, nothing would have happened and his fabulous life would have remained intact. I love the subversive condemnation of chronic over-medicalization implicit in this, even if the film-makers didn’t intend it.

The film is mostly a set piece for Douglas to fully inhabit and explore this sad but interesting character, but it all works really well because the supporting casting and acting is just spot-on. (The one exception: Jesse Eisenberg – the appeal of that guy still leaves me bewildered.) I can’t stand Danny DeVito, but I thought he was terrific in his little role – it’s maybe the first time I’ve liked him, ever. Imogen Poots is great as the daughter of his girlfriend. It helps (of course) that the film is well-written, and directed and paced effectively.

I do think the film over-estimates the number of drop-dead gorgeous 20 year olds on a typical college campus, especially these days. I walk through NYU’s campus every day on my way home, and I can go for weeks, months, without seeing anyone even remotely head-turning. But in the context of the film it is fun to suspend disbelief and be in the tormented world of this newly born sex maniac desperately trying to fend off his own mortality, and grinding what little remains of his life to dust as he does.

The film is definitely worth seeing!