Man Date / Movie Review

So last Friday my friend Bobby (and I use the term friend loosely as he tries to make everyone's lives worse so he can feel better about himself) asks me to see a movie, a matinee. So I say sure why not, find some other people so it's not a man date (a man date being two dudes going out in what is normally reserved for a romantic or date like setting). I'm pretty sure he went out of his way to make it a man date which is kind of weird and another story altogether.

Anyway we wanted to see Adventureland starring my new current favorite actor Bill Hader (pictured left). He was the cop in Superbad and was hilarious in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Anyway for some reason that movie is getting no publicity and is pretty much out of theaters already so we opted for the next best thing and agreed on The Soloist.

The movie stars Jamie Foxx as some homeless violin guy who's amazing at his instrument. Then there's Robert Downey Jr. who plays a columnist for the L.A. Times. Let me first say that I won't be giving a long synopsis of the movie or any kind of review with credibility so don't worry about spoilers because there won't be any. Let me next give my thoughts on the actors. (and I am about to go on a bit of a tangent).

Dude Jamie Foxx broke into the industry as a COMEDIAN. You wouldn't know it anymore since he hasn't even made a small joke in any of his movies in like the last 5 years (The Kingdom, Miami Vice, Collateral). I hate when funny actors especially dudes who start out as comedians try to be taken seriously. So what do they do? They take every non funny role to show that they can act! Now I gotta give him some credit, this was a great performance by him, but that's not the point. The point is you broke into the industry because you had a talent. Making people laugh. You can be taken seriously and be funny. It IS possible. I mean come on, tell me if you saw a trailer for Booty Call 2 you wouldn't be intrigued?? Hey Ryan Reynolds enough with the cheesy romantic comedies. I will always remember you as Van Wilder and that show Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place or whatever that was called. Let's get Van Wilder Goes to Grad School for 6 Years into production! Ok I'm done...

Robert Downey Jr. is the man. If you haven't seen Iron Man you really should. Great movie, can't wait for the sequel. Anyway, he also has a really good performance in the movie, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed walking out of the theater. It was a decent movie, but the previews led me to believe it was gonna be better. The movie didn't really have a climax. Roger Ebert blames the director and the screenwriter. It definitely wasn't the actors fault. This movie could have been better, but I would call it a rental when it comes out on DVD (or Blu-Ray if you're awesome like me). 1-10 scale I give it a 6.