Mediocracy is acceptable when it comes to certain things like cleaning your house or cruising through a beginner’s course in your first year of college, but it’s not acceptable in film — at least not to me. “Solitary Man” falls right into that category, securing it’s position as a film you will soon forget.

Michael Douglas has been around for a long time and he has given us some golden performances. In “Solitary Man” he ultimately delivers another one, unfortunately it’s a lost cause caught in a story that goes nowhere. I guess I shouldn’t have expected too much from the guys that brought us “Knockaround Guys,” but everybody has to be held up to some kind of standard. Before I come down with my oversized hammer of judgement let me say a few things that might hold this film in a more positive light.

Everybody loves a story of a man who falls hard and has to work his way back to the top, I’m not an exception. This is where the writers struck the right chord. They also casted the right people for the parts, aside from Jenna Fischer, who doesn’t quite shine on the big screen the same way she does on our television sets. While the characters never get a chance to evolve, Douglas, Sarandon, Eisenberg, and Thirlby do the best they can with such limited time.

I know this was a very short interpretation of my opinion but sometimes it’s better to keep it simple. “Solitary Man” is just not that interesting of a film. It’s writing, direction and story line all fall flat and in the end leave us with an idle feeling about what we just watched.