Director Joe Wright is no hack.  While I thought "Atonement" was a terrible film, I found that to be a failure on a script level and of adaptation, not of direction as the film was beautifully shot, paced, and delivered some inventive and memorable uses of music.  While I thought it was a tad overbearing at times, using a type-writer as percussion was an inspired choice. 

Once again saddled with Oscar-bait, this time in the story of a journalist who connects with an African-American schizophrenic music prodigy (it would be satiric of what the Academy wants in their movies if it wasn't pandering so hard), seems like it would be primed to compete for some awards.  But DreamWorks knocked the film back from last November and dropped into April where it will never have a shot at Oscar gold.  Was it that big a dud?  Was Wright's ability on "Atonement" just a flash in the pan?

Not at all.  "The Soloist" is definitely Oscar-bait, undoubtedly mediocre, and in no way challenging to its viewer but lesser films have gotten away with more when it comes to awards season.  I can't explain why DreamWorks blinked on a film that was made with awards in mind and then made sure it would never win any awards.  It's not like this Oscar season was an embarrassment of riches.

What I can explain is that Wright's talent is one of the film's strengths and yet it's also the reason "The Soloist" can never get the right melody.  Rather than letting characters and scenes speak for themselves, Wright is constantly dazzling us with his abilities yet it's a showmanship that rarely works in tandem with the story.  He's so focused on his soaring overhead shots and how we'll feel music like the film's title character that he never connects us to our characters and how they change and influence each other.

Robert Downey Jr. plays popular Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez and while recovering from a bike accident and looking for a fresh human interest story, he stumbles across a homeless violinist playing beautiful music on just two strings.  The violinist is Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr. (Jamie Foxx) and while he was once studying the cello at Juliard, his schizophrenia has reduced him to a lonely vagrant struggling to keep his sanity.  The rest of the film is spent with Downey Jr. trying to help Ayers and slowly realizing that perhaps Ayers can't be helped.  Along the way, the film tries to explore the issue of the mentally ill suffering amongst the urban poor and a half-hearted attempt at the importance of friendship (was anyone disputing that friendship is good?) as the film winds down because ultimately, "The Soloist" isn't about anything.  Joe Wright knows what's beautiful in the film and what about the story can be effective, whether it’s the dramatic sight of the homeless at night on the Los Angeles streets or the voices in Ayers head, but he's rarely interested in the why of those issues and worse, fails to make us care. 

That's upsetting because when Wright connects, he hits it out of the park.  There's an unforgettable scene where we hear music from Nathaniel's perspective and Wright gives the film over to the music and visualization of that music in colors that manages to be stirring rather than just putting a camera on your iTunes visualization setting.  And it's a bold move to spend that time with just colors on the screen and no characters or plot and trust that the audience will know we're experiencing music and Nathaniel does. 

Wright's problem is that he's trying to carry this film all by himself rather than do what a director should and bring all the elements together to make a thoughtful film that will resonate with viewers after the end credits roll.  Instead of letting the story carry the film, he's hoping that you'll be so impressed with his skills that you won't notice that the narrative and characters lack development.  The film eagerly jumps into the relationship between Ayers and Lopez but it belabors Ayers' downfall while taking a bizarre minimalist approach to Lopez' life to the point where we're left to draw conclusions about why his back yard being destroyed by raccoons is a reflection of his character.  I don't need a film to spell everything out for me, but it's a painful imbalance in providing too much of Ayers' story while barely letting us in to Lopez' world.  Wright can beautifully pace an individual scene, but when it comes to his overall film, he's all over the place, relying too heavily on the comedic quirks of Ayers' mental illness before sucker punching us with his violent tendencies without providing enough attention to the character's inner darkness beforehand.

These pacing problems could be counteracted by trusting in the film's two talented leads but Downey Jr. and Foxx are the ones most hurt by Wright's bravado.  Separately, neither actor manages to be as talented as we know they can be; Downey Jr. is reduced to making dry, witty comments and Foxx goes full retard with his fast-talking and heavy make-up work.  There are rare moments when these two actors actually get to create characters and play off each other and do so without Wright's interference.  Sadly, these moments are too little, too late and we're left with a film that doesn't have anything to say but thinks that if it carries itself like a great film, we won't notice that it's just lip-syncing rather than making its own music.