Michael Douglas plays Ben Kalmen, a bigtime car dealer known as “New York’s Honest Car Dealer” with friends everywhere and a weakness for women. He is a powerful man, apparently well liked in  all circles, so well, that he writes large gifts to charity and particularly to his Alma Mater, where the library actually carries his name: the Kalmen Library.

We like Ben. He is a fun guy to have around, until, ever so subtly, we notice cracks in the facade, small ones first, then bigger ones, until we find a Ben entirely different from what we thought he originally was. Ouch.

Is Ben down on his luck, or is he too lucky? So lucky, in fact, that he allows it to carry him away and take away his control?

Solitary Man has a great cast, including Danny DeVito and Susan Sarandon, and as always in a Michael Douglas movie, the acting is superb. Michael Douglas becomes the character, and by the end of the movie you have forgotten that you have watched him in dozens of  other movies in other roles. This one seems to have been made just for him.

It’s an amusing story, light and entertaining. I chuckled a few times. 

Rating: **