Next Day Air (2009)

Review: `The Soloist' By Darralynn Hutson Set against the grimiest skid row in 2005, this real story of Nathaniel Ayers — a schizophrenic yet gifted musician living on the streets of downtown LA – engrossed LA Times readers, its staff of editors and especially the reporter who wrote about him, Steve Lopez. Lopez was a seasoned Times columnist, read by millions. By shear chance, he met, and befriended Ayers. Through his weekly column, Ayers became human and real. The simple fact that Lopez didn't just ignore him like most people added to the humanity of this story. Robert Downey Jr. portrayed the focused yet, broken journalist and Jamie Foxx was cast as the brilliant yet insane musician. "The Soloist" takes all that passion and engaging details of a relationship between two unsuspecting men and turns them into what is a straight to DVD movie. On paper and in its promotion, The Soloist had major promise (and it was initially was scheduled to come out at the height of prestige-movie season last year, only to be bumped to pre-summer). On the screen, it was an awkward mix of Hollywood gritty city visuals and forced sentiments in which even actors with the skills of Downey, Foxx and Catherine Keener, who portrays the newspaper editor and Lopez’ ex wife, have difficulty finding a rhythm. Downey displays this easy character, allowing him to be on his feet and vulnerable. Yet the audience never knows if he’s genuinely interested in Ayers or just taking advantage of him. "The Soloist" is more about Lopez committing actual journalism, putting his good fortunes and experience to work to determine who Ayers is and how he ended up homeless despite his Julliard-trained musical potential. Ayers functions at one repetitive, manic speed throughout the whole film. Lopez often seems frustrated — like he can't wait to get away from him — a feeling that the audience will surely agree. Then there were a combination of stream-of-consciousness rants and fixations that represented the manifestations of Ayers' mental illness that came off visually like a kalidoscope acid trip. A friendship forms between these two different yet independent characters and Lopez follows Ayers through some of the most drug-infested and dangerous parts of downtown. There is an emphasis played to how the residents react to him. Supposedly the director used real LA homeless, as extras for these scenes. It came off as another HBO’s The Corner episode. Too many of these moments felt like another parade of crack heads. The films’ climax is when Lopez takes Ayers to the Disney Concert Hall to reconnect with the music he loves most — Beethoven — with performances by the L.A. Philharmonic. It's a moment in the film that should have had some grace and reverence, but the scene is bombarded with lights and colors, an outward depiction of the feeling Ayers is enjoying. We want to root for these great Oscar winning and nominated actors, but this time, they fell flat and forced. Watch this at your own risk.

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