Solitary Man

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Solitary Man

R

2010

1h 29m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

77%

Tomatometer

97 Reviews

50%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

A series of bad decisions upends car dealer Ben Kalmen's (Michael Douglas) business, his wandering eye costs him his marriage to Nancy (Susan Sarandon), and he has to relocate from a grand home to a tiny flat. Even Ben's current girlfriend Jordan (Mary-Louise Parker) knows he's far from perfect. But a hastily planned trip to Boston -- he's showing Jordan's teen daughter, Allyson (Imogen Poots), one of the city's many colleges -- just might rouse Ben from his losing streak.

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Critics Consensus

Built around a singularly unpleasant main character, Solitary Man needed a flawless central performance to succeed -- and Michael Douglas delivers.

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Chris Chang

Film Comment Magazine

The film begins and ends with scenes of acute existential reflection, a state actors rarely convey convincingly-least of all in a contemporary American film.

Nov 13, 2013

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

Koppelmans script is awash in phony scenarios.

Rated: C

Oct 12, 2010

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Angie Errigo

Empire Magazine

A terrific turn by Douglas, and strong support, elevates this character-driven drama above its unlikeable protagonist.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 8, 2010

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

It’s difficult to imagine anyone else but Douglas making Ben Kalmen such a likable character.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 9, 2023

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Solitary Man enjoys cataloging despicable people. [Full review in Spanish]

Jul 15, 2022

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

A little incomplete and largely unsatisfying.

Rated: 4/10

Nov 30, 2020

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Audience Member

I really like this. It's a weird movie b/c the lead can't get out of his own way- he's a real S#$T. There Is some redemption at the end but it's kind of a cool movie if you look at it as a character study. Great acting and the dialogue was pretty good too instead of the same old lines that are in everything.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/30/25

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isla s

This is a kind of interesting film. The main flaw is the main character, Ben Kalmen - someone who isn't very likeable. He has a way of distancing himself from others, including (of course) decent friends. The performances are ok and it's pretty watchable, if a bit cheesy/cringe-inducing at times perhaps, at worst. I suppose it was interesting to see how Ben worked around his situations, to not allow others to see (or perceive) him as he knew himself to be, indeed as he is - a bit of a drifter. It's not a film that will appeal to all but its ok.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Middle aged (0ld) men will get this movies. Others probably won't hence the negative reviews. And that's just fine with me.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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Audience Member

The movie sucked, it was boring. It was disgusting to see Mike's wrinkly old body, and even more disgusting to see him groping and kissing that beautiful, young college girl.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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Audience Member

Good movie with yet again , Michael Douglas playing a sleepy jerk , which he does well. I really liked the story line , but wished the movie was fleshed out more. If they had actually shown growth or a learning curve for Douglasses character ( not anything sappy ) it would have been a much better movie. Douglas very good at playing this character type...

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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Audience Member

Disgustingly creepy.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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Brian Koppelman

Director

David Levien

Director

Michael Douglas

Ben

Mary-Louise Parker

Jordan

Jenna Fischer

Susan

Jesse Eisenberg

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Synopsis

A series of bad decisions upends car dealer Ben Kalmen's (Michael Douglas) business, his wandering eye costs him his marriage to Nancy (Susan Sarandon), and he has to relocate from a grand home to a tiny flat. Even Ben's current girlfriend Jordan (Mary-Louise Parker) knows he's far from perfect. But a hastily planned trip to Boston -- he's showing Jordan's teen daughter, Allyson (Imogen Poots), one of the city's many colleges -- just might rouse Ben from his losing streak.

Director: Brian Koppelman, David Levien
Producer: Paul Schiff, Steven Soderbergh, Heidi Jo Markel
Screenwriter: Brian Koppelman
Distributor: Anchor Bay
Production Co: Nu Image, Paul Schiff
Rating: R (Some Sexual Content|Language)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 21, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $4.4M
Runtime: 1h 29m

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