Grown-Up Movies

Have you seen The Soloist? I haven’t. And I don’t plan to. And, based on the box office , most of America apparently feels similarly.

I recently read an article on MSNBC.com about how “grown-up movies” are an endangered species. Basically, it argued that kids movies, teen genre movies, raunchy R-rated comedies, etc. were replacing more serious fare like The Soloist. While some of the other films that the article cited were actually good (like State of Play) I was surprised that the author of the article would lament the supremacy of genre movies over something that seemed as piddling as The Soloist.

First, let me say that I’m a fan of “serious” grown-up movies. In recent months I’ve seen Doubt, Nothing But the Truth, Frost/Nixon, The Wrestler, and many others. For the most part these films were profound and entertaining. Second, I generally agree with the article’s main point that more mature films are struggling to compete in the movie marketplace. However, I think the real problem is that a genre of serious films (a genre that apparently includes both The Soloist and State of Play) has emerged and that the defining feature of this genre is medicrity.

So lets look at The Soloist. From the moment its trailers were released the movie seemed like a disaster. It struck me as a cross between Mr. Holland’s Opus, Rain Man, and Stand and Deliever, only if all of those movies had starred Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey. What’s more, every word seemed like a cliché: guy afraid of commitment? Check. Brilliant but troubled artist? Check. Down-on-their-luck characters overcoming great odds? Check. These aren’t necessarily bad ideas by themselves, but they came off as bafflingly superficial.

The Soloist did have some things going for it. Robert Downey Jr., for example, is a capable actor and has had several of popular films recently. Jamie Foxx has also had some success and popularity (though he apparently has no idea how to choose films. Following up Ray with Stealth? Seriously?) On the other hand, this movie seems to show these actors at their worst. I’d rather watch Iron Man any day and wasn’t The Soloist the kind of movie that Robert Downey Jr. actually made fun of in Tropic Thunder? In the end, then, I think its clear that The Soloist wasn’t compelling (its release date suggests the studios also knew that).

The problem then is that if The Soloist is one of the definitive movies of the “grown-up” genre, who is going to want to see anything else from that genre? When I go to the theater (or to get a DVD) and I can either watch The Fast and Furious or Jamie Foxx running out in traffic in some movie that seems really boring, its only obvious that I’m going to choose the former. This problem is compounded by release patterns (serious movies in the fall, critically panned but commercially successful blockbusters in the summer), and the Academy Awards (which shaft movies like Wall-E or The Dark Knight seemingly because they are popular). What happens then is that good “grown-up” movies end up in the company of bad ones and none of them make money. All the while The Fast and the Furious is releasing sequel after sequel and raking in the dough.

Of course, this is a simplistic assessment of the situation. Other things, like the global financial meltdown, have also certainly contributed to Americans’ movie viewing patterns. But grouping serious movies together regardless of quality will only result in the gradual disappearance of serious movies.