Sorry, Soloist

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You'd think that L.A. Times film critic Kenneth Turan might be ...how to put it?...partial to slipping on the kid gloves in reviewing The Soloist? Since it's at least partly an L.A. Times milieu story based on a book by a Times colleague, Steve Lopez, about a relationship he had/has with a gifted but schizophrenic street musician? Uhn, nope.

Jamie Foxx,. Robert Downey, Jr. in The Soloist.

"Remember when Lloyd Bentsen told Dan Quayle, 'I knew Jack Kennedy [and] Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy'?," Turan begins. "Well, I felt a little that way when it came to reviewing The Soloist

"Despite all I know I should feel, I can't help being mightily frustrated by [this film]. I can't help resenting that it suffered the death of a thousand cuts and, more frustrating still, that all this happened in the name of doing good in the world, of making the story's powerful lessons more palatable to a wider audience.

"But by consistently and relentlessly overplaying everything, by settling for standard easy emotions when singular and heartfelt was called for, by pushing forward when they should have pulled back, director Joe Wright and screenwriter Susannah Grant have made the story mean less, not more. Instead of enhancing The Soloist's appeal, they have come close to eliminating it.

"I could back up and write all this in the reviewer's traditional third person, but that feels disingenuous. After all, I do know Lopez, whose wonderful Los Angeles Times columns and later book about his unlikely friendship with a gifted but deeply troubled street musician started everything. And I work with Lopez at The Times, which, in an unprecedented gesture, offered its newsroom as a set and has in general bound itself to this movie with remarkable fealty.

"More than that, as a Washington Post reporter when All the President's Men came out, I've experienced working at a newspaper when its exploits became movie material. I know what to expect from this kind of wild ride and, just as important, what to disregard.

"So while it was initially jolting to see the tall, laconic Lopez portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. -- not the likeliest person to play him -- as a short, voluble bundle of energy, I got over it. Did Marlon Brando resemble Napoleon? Did John Wayne look anything like Genghis Khan? Time to move on.

"I also knew we were a long way from the early days of the movie business, when Hollywood ran roughshod over books, ending an early sound version of Moby-Dick, for instance, with Ahab killing the whale and coming home to his girlfriend. Really.

"If The Soloist had been made in those days, Jamie Foxx's Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a gifted musician battling the horrors of paranoid schizophrenia, would have been cured in a trice and ended up playing a gala concert to a Disney Hall standing ovation. So I am nothing if not grateful for the small favors this film provides.

"[And yet] director Wright seems to relish overdoing whatever he can, not surprising for those who remember how he treated the Bennett family in his Pride & Prejudice. So a cellist who tries to help Ayers can't be just a good person, he has to be clumsily religious. When Ayers gets to hear a concert in Disney Hall, we can't just experience the moment, we have to watch a psychedelic light show left over from the Jefferson Airplane playing the Fillmore.

"And we can't simply enjoy this story for what it is, we have to suffer through bogus and unnecessary slapstick moments like Lopez slipping on his own urine during a hospital visit."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 23, 2009 at 5:32 PM

comment #1

The Winchester says ...

All I know is, the trailer should've been more honest and had Jaime Foxx jerking off an Oscar statue at the end of it.

Because that's the vibe I get from this movie.

(Well, really, ALL movie trailers should end with that image, but that just might be my own thing.)

Posted by The Winchester at April 23, 2009 7:32 PM

comment #2

rr3333 says ...

Jamie looks like Tracy Morgan's dad.

Posted by rr3333 at April 23, 2009 7:38 PM

comment #3

jeromejohn says ...

Thanks, that photo alone will ensure I skip this excrement on the Lifetime Network when channel surfing a year from now.

Posted by jeromejohn at April 23, 2009 7:48 PM

comment #4

raygo says ...

Jamie Foxx has been pretty lucky, but I find him very one-dimensional. He has maybe two expressions and was the weakest link in Dreamgirls. He's no Will Smith. I'd rather watch Seven Pounds.

Posted by raygo at April 23, 2009 8:01 PM

comment #5

Gordon27 says ...

I'm just glad this movie is finally coming out. Maybe now, they can stop playing the trailer in front of EVERY FUCKING MOVIE I SEE.

At least most movies that get pushed back for six-nine months have the good sense to cut a new theatrical trailer.

Posted by Gordon27 at April 23, 2009 8:24 PM

comment #6

mccool says ...

Probably the most blatant and, uh, shameless oscar whore-job in years, mayne.

Posted by mccool at April 23, 2009 8:26 PM

comment #7

lawnorder says ...

Kenneth Turan is a world class cock and every review that he attaches his name to is a pretentious essay on how he would do it better than the filmmaker himself. The man should not be reviewing mainstream cinema - much like his NY Times counterpart Dhargis. Together, they represent the criticism of contrarianism. They kiss up to international art cinema - the more austere, the better for them. They don't get "movies," and never will. I fucking hate reading their reviews and use them as a barometer on what not to see - when they write some glowing treatise on some arty-farty piece of shit. I can't wait for both papers to fold, so that these two can receive their marching papers and go off and write their weekly bilge for some dickless review journal.

Posted by lawnorder at April 23, 2009 8:42 PM

comment #8

MilkMan says ...

robert downey deserves an oscar just for acting opposite foxx, who is a clown. acting with clowns has got to be very hard.

Posted by MilkMan at April 24, 2009 12:33 AM

comment #9

LexG says ...

Yeah, not to continue a pile-on, because I'm sure he's a nice, dryly witty guy in person (and seems more human on NPR), but Turan does, time and again, come off a grumpy, stuffy, pompous "drip" in print. He's one of those critics where, even on the occasions where I do agree with his overall take on a film, I still kind of hate how he approaches and processes stuff.

The above Soloist review is at least livelier than the usual Turan pan -- when he's really bored, he plagiarizes his own lines ("this film takes us places we do not want to go") pretty blatantly, down to the point where you can predict each beat (praise the cast, complain about the violence, complain about the indulgent filmmaking, name-check Clint Eastwood, recite the production notes, use the word "so" like a Valley Girl, etc.)

But even if he's right on this film, Turan generally has such problems with dark content, directorial flourishes, quirks, indulgences, and perceived manipulation, I sometimes wonder if the guy likes movies at all, and wouldn't just be happier staring at a piece of cardboard for two hours. He's like a bored book critic who doesn't really respect the medium but sorta fell into it because he could turn a phrase.

His taste in American films is so boringly "tasteful" and vanilla; He doesn't seem to groove off of disreputable thrills (odd for a guy who appeared in the John Holmes doc) or overt stylization or B-junkiness. Everything has to be filtered some some Miramax/Paltrow/Zaillian/Eastwood level of prestige propriety.

Not to mention, he's the supposed top dog of L.A. film criticism, and sits out a seeming majority of Hollywood films.

With all the critics getting axed, how does Turan manage to blow off whole weeks and pretty big films, and the Times has to go with Besty Sharkey or some AP critic's review. It just kind of adds to his pompous vibe that the last few years, he won't even review shit that's "beneath" him.

If Roger Ebert can go out and see Friday the 13th and Last House on the Left 09 and dopey sex comedies, how come L.A. premier film critic (ha!) only has to clock in when some new Oscar bait or Euro art film drops?

Not that we can't predict Turan's take on that kind of pulp anyway, so maybe it's for the better. I guess it's just a question of enthusiasm. Turan reminds me of one of those "fussy eater" foodie pricks who always has to rain on everyone's parade and be a snob and a cock in restaurants then bag on it the whole time. When I read his reviews I picture some prickish asshole eating some meal he doesn't approve of and scrunching up his face, like he's eating poison or something.

Just a fussy, dumpy, unpleasant sadsack with no energy or enthusiasm for what he's doing.

Posted by LexG at April 24, 2009 12:36 AM

comment #10

LexG says ...

Oh, and Gordon27 for the win:

"Maybe now, they can stop playing the trailer in front of EVERY FUCKING MOVIE I SEE."

AMEN. Christ, every time they crank up that embarrassing funk version of "Higher Ground," I wanna make a second trip to the concession stand just to wait it out.

Posted by LexG at April 24, 2009 12:45 AM

comment #11

https://me.yahoo.com/a/I3KPas4ssv3adgDYK1dLh.ijH4Ph1pk9CjVWlIZn#dac4a says ...

"that embarrassing funk version of 'Higher Ground,'"
By which you mean, the original version by Stevie Wonder? Please tell me you are just being ironic and/or sarcastic so that I don't lose all faith in humanity.

Posted by https://me.yahoo.com/a/I3KPas4ssv3adgDYK1dLh.ijH4Ph1pk9CjVWlIZn#dac4a at April 24, 2009 2:13 AM

comment #12

BurmaShave says ...

New Yorker review convinced me, I'll be there this weekend.

Posted by BurmaShave at April 24, 2009 2:19 AM

comment #13

BurmaShave says ...

Also Lex you prefer the Chili Peppers version?

Posted by BurmaShave at April 24, 2009 2:20 AM

comment #14

hawthorne says ...

The reviews for this movie have been all over the map. Some of my favorite critics have loved it. Some not so much. I plan to see it tonight because I like to make up my own mind. One thought here I want to add in. What movies that come out in the Fall are not considered Oscar bait? isn't that the whole idea? You mean to say they did not expect the Curious Case of Benjamin Button to win oscars? I love Fincher but that was kind of obvious from the first trailer I saw that they were hoping for some oscar love. And why not? winning oscars adds tons of money to the bank accounts of the studios. Do you think they make movies that they hope won't win oscars? come on now.

Posted by hawthorne at April 24, 2009 5:32 AM

comment #15

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

Joe Wright openly admits he loves melodrama and grand, sweeping scores, so I expect nothing less from this.

I can't be arsed to see it at the theater but I will probably rent it.

LexG is ace.

I wish I was a film critic. It'd be such a fucking easy life. I love it when they moan about going to watch Sex Drive or Halloween like it was a great hardship to be paid to sit down and watch a film and write some snarky review afterwards. Christ, they should try getting a real job and see how they enjoy that.

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at April 24, 2009 5:54 AM

comment #16

BurmaShave says ...

Never mind I think i set myself up to be informed that Anthony Keidis commands me. He was in POINT BREAK after all.

Posted by BurmaShave at April 24, 2009 6:17 AM

comment #17

Mark says ...

the board sounds bitter today.

Turan may be to close to this to be objective. He had the movie already made in his head, and is acting like a kid who got the stuck with the black jelly bean.

I do like the scene where Downey says "C'mon. You can do it." He underplayed it well.

Posted by Mark at April 24, 2009 8:41 AM

comment #18

George Prager says ...

"New Yorker review convinced me, I'll be there this weekend."

At this point, Denby couldn't convince me that The Godfather is a good movie.

An in-law got extremely irritated with me last weekend when I said that this movie would probably suck. "But it's a good story!" He said. So was She-Devil.

Posted by George Prager at April 24, 2009 8:55 AM

comment #19

Gordon27 says ...

George - I told a friend of mine that there was basically no way this was a good movie, and he said, "What do you mean? Everybody thinks it's going to do well." And I said why? (A lot of times, I find people who live in Hollywood have a completely different view of movies than anybody else.) And he said "It's important, it's about the L.A. Philharmonic."

I told him that, knowing that, I would revise my prediction lower.

Posted by Gordon27 at April 24, 2009 10:49 AM

comment #20

MilkMan says ...

Supposedly there is a 2001-style light show during one part of this movie, which means I am getting stoned and going to see it tonight, especially if it's playing at the Arclight. So if you go to the Arclight tonight and there is a guy in the front row eating one Apple sausage chicken baguette w/ watermelon bbq sauce, laughing his ass off during every scene (except for the light show), just know that it's me, and feel free to come down and sit next to me because I will share my Milk Duds with you.

Posted by MilkMan at April 24, 2009 12:08 PM

comment #21

lawnorder says ...

Lex, well said on Turan. So on the money. I give more credibility to AT THE MOVIES than anything Turan writes or says.

Posted by lawnorder at April 24, 2009 1:32 PM

comment #22

K. Bowen says ...

There is a 2001 lightshow. But it's a whole lot weaker.

Turan pretty much nailed it. He neglects to mention that roughly every single extra in California got hired for this film.

He also doesn't mention how this film blatantly panders to the film critics by showing just a couple of scenes about how their jobs are in jeopardy.

Posted by K. Bowen at April 24, 2009 9:29 PM

comment #23

TVMCCA says ...

LexG wrote:
With all the critics getting axed, how does Turan manage to blow off whole weeks and pretty big films, and the Times has to go with Besty Sharkey or some AP critic's review. It just kind of adds to his pompous vibe that the last few years, he won't even review shit that's "beneath" him.

Betsy Sharkey is ubermainstream-friendly and, like Turan, she's made some money on the side ghostwriting celeb autobios (Marlee Matlin for Ms. Sharkey, Patty Duke for Turan).

Posted by TVMCCA at April 24, 2009 11:56 PM

comment #24