The Last Movie I Saw

Robert Downey Jr. is currently on my very short list of actors I'll go see in anything. It's not that he's always in great films (as say for example, Bowfinger), but he's almost always great at creating a fascinating character within those films. And frankly, his track record for picking excellent projects is actually quite good (I had to think for awhile to come up with Bowfinger as an exception). I was trying to think what it was about his actorly skills that make him so compelling to watch, and after really concentrating on figuring it out while I was watching The Soloist (directed by Joe Wright and co-starring Jamie Foxx and Catherine Keener), I think I may have an idea. Downey always convinces me that he's interacting with the other actors on the screen-- not just exchanging lines, but really engaged with them, almost regardless of the nature of the conversation. He displays incredible empathy, which in turn leads me (as part of the audience) to feel empathy for him, and give his characters the benefit of the doubt, even when they aren't doing such nice things. This is really apparent in The Soloist, which otherwise is a pretty standard fare melodrama with fairly predictable turns and results. But given how central the concept of the Downey character's friendship with Jamie Foxx's homeless man is to the plot (and theme), Downey's ability to make you believe he is connected to Foxx is crucial. That Downey can accomplish this kind of bonding regardless of the kind of role he plays-- whether as a sympathetic newsman (as here), a comic book superhero (last year's Iron Man), or even as a heel (Natural Born Killers or even The Pick-Up Artist)-- is kind of remarkable. It also makes the decision to cast him as Charlie Chaplin in the biopic of the comedy icon some years back look pretty obvious in retrospect. I don't think that The Soloist is as good as that movie, or many others on his resume, but Downey certainly makes it worth checking out.