The Soloist
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: April 24, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
12
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
SalonStephanie Zacharek
A triumphant movie about failure. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx are on fire in the lead roles: They're both charismatic as hell without sacrificing any of the emotional honesty necessary for you to believe that these movie stars are a scruffy reporter and a mentally ill musician. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Mr. Wright and his colleagues have made a movie with a spaciousness of its own, a brave willingness to explore such mysteries of the mind and heart as the torture that madness can inflict, and the rapture that music can confer. Bravo to all concerned. Read full review
80
EmpireDan Jolin
Intelligent and uncompromising, with knock-out performances from Downey Jr. and Foxx . Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
It's all a bit shapeless, yet made with sincerity and taste, and the two actors seize your sympathy. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The Soloist does have the courage to be true to the real Ayers' fate at last, after the exaggerations end. And the smart, hard-working Foxx and Downey ensure that their scenes all stay grittily honest. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Downey gives a nervy, riveting performance in The Soloist. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Isn't so much a story of perseverance and musical triumph as it is of despair, acceptance, and social commitment. The movie's a call to arms: We are our brothers' keepers, it says, and our brothers are in terrible shape. Read full review
75
PremiereRob Calvert
The Soloist is based upon a true story, so it lacks some of the clichés that you might find in other made-up tales. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
In the end, The Soloist isn't about BIG MOMENTS, it's about the grace notes, the kind that stay with you. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Catherine Keener is also believable and sympathetic as Lopez's editor and former wife. But the film's power comes down to the strength of the two superb lead performances. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Foxx is magnificent, taking a role that could be exorbitantly showy (actors playing the mentally disabled tend to forget the word "restraint") and turning in a performance that's controlled and mesmerizing. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazinePerry Seibert
This kind of movie quickly falls apart if the actors overplay the inherent sadness of the situation, and thankfully the stellar cast never makes that mistake. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The film works best when it focuses on the touching, crazymaking relationship between the two men. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
I don't know if Beethoven and a sympathetic newspaper reporter can redeem a messy American city, but this movie makes a plausible case for so fervent a dream. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Hollywood loves the heroics of good intentions, but this movie is just as interested in the road to hell. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
You can't help but feel a connection to Downey and Foxx and, to a lesser degree, a rooting interest in the story. But try as Wright might, he never figures out a way to bring us in -- much less manipulate us -- cinematically. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The Soloist has all the elements of an uplifting drama, except for the uplift. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The tone of The Soloist is wildly uneven. Though unsparing and unsentimental when framing the principals, Wright is hyperbolic when depicting the agitation of the mentally ill and the soothing rapture of music. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
This is the story of a complicated and fraught friendship, and I'm not sure Wright and his collaborators figured out how much Hollywood baloney and how much naturalistic grunge to apply to it. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The problem with The Soloist is that, while Wright shows admirable restraint in dramatizing the interaction between the two principals and does not fall into the trap of following a "movie of the week" formula about mental illness, there is little emotional resonance in the story. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The film is imperfect, periodically if unsurprisingly sentimental, overly tidy and often very moving. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Has moments of power and imagination, but the overworked style and heavy socially conscious bent exude an off-putting sense of self-importance, making for a picture that's more of a chore than a pleasure to sit through. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The movie is a noble enterprise, and Downey is stupendous as usual, but Joe Wright's direction is too slick to elicit much feeling. Read full review
50
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Foxx and Downey's disciplined duet come close to redeeming The Soloist from its visual excesses, but Wright leaves us with a parting shot of the dancing homeless that shamelessly exploits the very people he means to champion. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
With all the hallmarks of a prestige picture, chief among them a great cast and creative crew and an "important" message, The Soloist plays its tune with a frequently heavy hand. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
As a drama, The Soloist is stuck before it starts. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
Like the prototypical "Shine," this is a film that romanticizes mental illness. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
For all its sensitivity to the horrors of mental illness, The Soloist ends up as a fairly canned piece of work. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
The result feels cluttered, overcooked, and underfelt. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
It's a handsomely mounted spectacle with moments of bravura acting that nonetheless feels labored and dull. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
It's hard to talk about The Soloist without falling into cliches, because this well-meaning but ham-handed drama is full them. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
By consistently and relentlessly overplaying everything, by settling for standard easy emotions when singular and heartfelt was called for, by pushing forward when they should have pulled back, director Joe Wright and screenwriter Susannah Grant have made the story mean less, not more. Instead of enhancing The Soloist's appeal, they have come close to eliminating it. Read full review
More From This Movie

61 Critic Reviews

6.9 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL