The Soloist: Life Has a Mind of Its Own.

For the record, I consider anything made by Jamie Foxx to be gold. Robert Downey is oddly himself in every role he plays, which makes me feel like I'm watching him with a sliver of the character he portrays. For this reason, I adore both actors enough to watch this movie I would otherwise have no interest in.

At first, I thought this movie was going to be a booty-ass version of Ray, until I realized this musician wasn't blind, nor would he even rise to the stardom that he potentially would have. The Soloist played itself like a duet of "A Beautiful Mind" and "Reign on Me," which are both sad movies that make you realize that the game of life is just not fair sometimes. The movie is based on real life events that took place in Los Angeles, right under the nose of LA Times columnist Steve Lopez. Mr. Lopez initially finds Nathaniel Ayers to be a fascinating story because he is briliant, talented, and yet homeless. He titles his articles about Ayers: Life Has a Mind of Its Own.

The movie spends most of its time portraying Lopez attempting to help Ayers to function normally in society. However, despite all his efforts, in the end he only progresses about an inch further than where he started. The real point, apparently, is that Lopez is the one who has a quick life lesson, when he realizes that Ayers' didn't need normalcy for happiness, but rather being accepted as he is instead of being placed under more pressure. Luckily that point was not spoon fed to the audience. Though the movie does end on a happy note, it isn't suggesting anything more than we all already know: life truly does has a mind of its own.

And though this movie is meant to make you think about life and create an awareness through more schizo stories, there were too many times when the voices in Ayer's head had me too confused on what lines I was supposed to hear and what they meant. I found it to be distracting. I guess that was the director's way of making me feel not lucid too? Here's an fyi: I don't like to be confused when trying to get the point of your movie. Thanks.

The voices in my head tell me to give this movie a 3/5.