The Soloist

This was postponed from last year’s Oscar-release season, and it’s easy to see why. The movie isn’t good, nor is it bad. It just sort of sits there and accomplishes little, even though it has two hard-working, reliable actors at its core. Robert Downey Jr. plays a reporter who stumbles upon a schizophrenic homeless man (Jamie Foxx) who used to attend Julliard. The reporter originally pursues the story, but begins to care about the man’s plight and takes measures to help him. I’m not too sure what the message is here, but it’s the second film released in recent weeks to trumpet the virtues of print news. Downey is good as always, but Foxx’s performance is inconsistent and sloppy. This is supposedly based on a true story.