Michael Douglas & Susan Sarandon

A modest but juicy character study of a horn dog in winter, "Solitary Man" stars Michael Douglas as the sort of fellow audiences can have a hard time warming to: the self-destructive hedonist, slouching toward redemption. With a wolfish leer peeking out from behind a facade of trustworthiness, Douglas plays Ben Kalmen, who made his fortune selling cars and lost it all cutting ethical and legal corners. His ex (Susan Sarandon) knew the better Ben in the old days and still recognizes traces of him in the back-slapping, somewhat desperate character of the story's present.

The movie takes Ben to his old Boston college, where he donated a lot of money in flusher times, and where the daughter (Imogen Poots) of his lover (Mary-Louise Parker) is thinking of studying. It's not hard to see where this quasi-incestuous road trip is headed. But screenwriter Brian Koppelman ("Ocean's Thirteen") makes Ben's bed-hopping part of a stimulatingly unpredictable whole.

Koppelman's writing has its glib streak; occasionally he lets his characters (smart and quick-witted all) become variations on a single type of wiseacre. Yet even when the women in craven Ben's life are being idiots, they're tart-tongued and self-assured, even in their recklessness. Koppelman and David Levien co-directed the film in an easygoing style. Their penchant for longish takes allows the actors to actually interact with one another in the same shot.

At his peak of movie stardom, it wasn't easy to locate Douglas' talent behind the gritted teeth and seething misogyny of "Fatal Attraction," "Basic Instinct" and "Disclosure." It takes an actor years to unwind after a streak like that. Then, thanks partly to "Wonder Boys," Douglas did. "Solitary Man," like that picture, will have to fight for attention. But in its scruffy, take-me-or-leave-me way, it deserves attention.

Also, Jesse Eisenberg's in it, playing a sweetly insecure college student assigned to Ben during his stay. People who think Eisenberg can do only one kind of role aren't paying attention. In everything he does, whether "Adventureland" or "Zombieland" or this picture (which could be called "Horndogland"), his timing is magically astute, and he and Douglas are lovely together. Jenna Fischer plays Ben's semi-estranged daughter; like Eisenberg, she barely seems to be acting, in a good way.

Plenty could've been improved in the script stage with "Solitary Man": The back story regarding Ben's financial ruin gets pretty horsey, and though it's hard to begrudge any screenplay with some wit and nerve, this one grows softer and more conventional in the later stages. Still, it's a pleasant surprise about an unpleasant guy brought to life by an ingratiating paradox, a movie star who has turned into a wily character man.

 

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"Solitary Man" Movie Trailer

 

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MPAA rating: R (for language and some sexual content).

Running time: 1:20.

Cast: Michael Douglas (Ben Kalmen); Susan Sarandon (Nancy Kalmen); Danny DeVito (Jimmy Merino); Mary Louise Parker (Jordan Karsch); Jenna Fischer (Susan Porter); Imogen Poots (Allyson Karsch); Jesse Eisenberg (Daniel Cheston).

Credits: Directed by David Levien and Brian Koppelman; written by Koppelman; produced by Paul Schiff, Steven Soderbergh and Avi Lerner. An Anchor Bay Films release.