‘The Soloist’ delivers a lackluster performance

The trailer for’ ‘The Soloist,’ a new film by ‘Atonement’ director Joe Wright, makes the film look like one of those sappy-but-inspiring flicks that Hollywood churns out so well. Based on the true story of journalist Steve Lopez’s (Robert Downey, Jr.) discovery of Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless man who had previously studied at Julliard, the movie has ‘frequent showings on the Lifetime Network’ written all over it. The film is surprising, though, in that it isn’t a tearjerker. In fact, it would be surprising if the film jerked any kind of reaction from its viewers at all.

It would be easy to place the blame for this flaw on the director ‘-‘- ‘Atonement’ suffered from the same combination of bland, superficial characterization that permeates ‘The Soloist.’ However, the lead performances are what truly kill the film to the point where one wonders why otherwise talented actors Foxx and Downey are phoning it in for roles that could have been far meatier.

According to the real Steve Lopez, a journalist for The Los Angeles Times, he told Downey that it wasn’t necessary to copy him when playing this part. ‘I didn’t see any need for him to try and play me, per se. I didn’t think I’d be a very exciting character,’ said Lopez.

‘I’m a journalist who’s mostly observing, sometimes asking some questions, but I didn’t consider myself a dramatic enough character for him to try to recreate me. I’d prefer that he do something original with it, and I think that he did.’

Downey did appear to take Lopez’s advice insofar as his character seems little like the actual man. His portrayal is more a clich’eacute; of the curmudgeonly journalist than anything truly ‘original.’ As played by the actor, Steve Lopez is a glib divorcee who doesn’t seem to care for much of anyone, including his ex-wife (Catherine Keener, in a game supporting role) and his family. He sees writing as nothing more than a way to make a living, and treats Nathaniel and other homeless people condescendingly ‘-‘- at one point, a drunk Keener accuses him of merely taking advantage of Nathaniel for the sake of his newspaper column, and from what we can see, she’s basically right. Lopez’s relationship to Ayers is only surface-deep; you get the feeling that Lopez just wants to give Ayers a happy ending so he can forget about him and move on to the next story.

Not that Foxx gives him much to work with. His performance is a series of tics without any real emotion. In one scene, Lopez and Ayers watch the L.A. Philharmonic play in a private rehearsal; in the next scene, Lopez gushes about the look of pure joy and love on Ayers’s face as the band played. The dialogue is surprising, considering that all we see in the previous scene is a workmanlike smile on Foxx’s face.

Maybe the problem is in the difference between newspaper columns and movies. In Lopez’s columns, he can address this story in a political sort of way, as an advocate; said the real Steve Lopez, ‘I’ve been told by advocates not to give up my job . . . they don’t have a soapbox like I do and they kind of like me being an advocate for their cause through journalism, through storytelling.’

Movies don’t work, however, when characterization and plot take a backseat to polemics. This is the case of ‘The Soloist.’ This is a movie that says homelessness is bad and music is good while forgetting to do anything else ‘-‘- a movie with a message, but without any real heart.