Just saw Solitary Man on DVD last night, and it reminded me very much of another recent (British) film, Venus, starring Peter O'Toole in a somewhat similar role as the Michael Douglas character in this one.
There seems to be a growing genre of movies about men who reach a certain age when they're past their prime of life, facing mortaility, and striving to relive their former glories by chasing extremely young women and being generally difficult to get along with.
In the case of both of these films, it seems that many of the themes in the films echo those in the lead actor's own personal life. In fact, in Venus, Peter O'Toole plays an aging actor whose career has seen much better days and they even show some old "real" publicity stills of O'Toole as a younger actor. [And I must say, if you haven't seen How to Steal a Million with O'Toole and Audrey Hepburn, get it on video right now. It's one of the best romantic comedies ever. If you watch the credits closely, you'll see that the musical score was composed by a young "Johnny Williams."]
Both Solitary Man and Venus are good, if somewhat disturbing, films - maybe not great picks if you're looking for cheerful holiday viewing. Do readers have any other favorite "disgruntled old guy" movies to put on the post-holiday-letdown viewing list?
I'm a big fan of Bulworth. Lost in Translation was also pretty good. And, even though it was a decade ago, Wonder Boys featured another terrific Michael Douglas performance that is in a similar vein.
Posted by: Colin Miller | December 13, 2010 at 04:40 PM
Alfie (about 40 years old) is about a young guy who is always on the chase for women (birds as he calls them) and never gets clued into the potential life. He (Michael Caine) is still young when the movie ends leaving the viewer with a sense that life will unfold meaninglessly for him. I saw Up in the Air a while back and liked contrasting the two. In this movie you do get the feeling at the end that the lead actor (George Clooney) has caught on to the fact that life holds more for him although he is physically going on with things as they were for the time being.
Posted by: Bill Turnier | December 14, 2010 at 09:05 PM
I had forgotten about Up in the Air. Good suggestion. I'm ashamed to say I've never seen Alfie. Wasn't there also a remake with Jude Law or something? I haven't seen it either but vaguely remember it coming out.
Posted by: Jacqueline Lipton | December 15, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Sticking with Michael Douglas--though he's not so old--there's always "Falling Down."
Posted by: Jeremy Blumenthal | December 21, 2010 at 01:32 PM