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Another noticeable change the movie makes is that it compresses the time the story takes. Although it’s obvious it can’t play out in real time, they could have shown captions to indicate how much time had passed. Instead, the movie portrays the events as having occurred a lot more quickly. The movie would have you believe that after their initial meeting, Steve had no trouble finding Nathaniel again. In reality, it took him three weeks to find Nathaniel a second time. And after their second meeting, two weeks went by before they saw each other again.

At one point a reader sends a cello for Nathaniel but Steve tells him he can only play it at the shelter to be safe. In the movie we see that Nathaniel does not go to the shelter that night and we get a sense that at least some time had gone by because Steve was already in search of a new story. In reality, a whole month passed before Nathaniel went to the shelter. Again, a simple caption could have shown the time jump. It might seem like an unimportant detail but it really is. When I first saw the movie I had no idea such a long time had gone by so I didn’t think that much of it. But when I read the book and I found out that a month had passed, it made it clear to me just how hesitant Nathaniel was to go to the shelter. It also shows just why it was such a big deal when he did go.

In the movie, Nathaniel plays at a recital to disastrous results. In reality he played at a club and although it started out roughly, Nathaniel eventually came through.

Like I said before, it’s understandable that some things would be changed but in this case some of the alterations are just baffling and actually hurt the movie. One of the more ridiculous things that the movie does is to change Steve’s marital status. In real life he was happily married but I guess the filmmakers were worried that Nathaniel’s plight didn’t provide enough conflict so they decided to make Steve divorced. He’s not only divorced but he works with his ex-wife.

Another thing that winds up being detrimental to the movie is that it insists at trying to shoehorn social commentary. I don’t think there is anything wrong with a movie commenting on social issues but The Soloist does it so clumsily. The movie makes vague mentions of serious issues and quickly tosses them aside.

Instead of making clumsy grabs at seriousness, it could have included a scene depicting Nathaniel spending Easter with Steve’s family. As Nathaniel began making progress, Steve invited him over to celebrate the holiday with his family. It was a really touching moment and we get to see that underneath everything Nathaniel is still a charming and warm man. Watching him express his desire to have his own family could have made for a genuinely touching scene.

And if that weren’t enough, the movie tries to force humor with a completely unnecessary subplot involving raccoon urine that goes nowhere.

Verdict:

In the end, the changes do nothing to help the movie and rob the story of the emotional weight it should have had. It’s too bad, because Foxx and especially Downey give great performances that are wasted on a movie that doesn’t seem to have enough confidence in the story it’s telling. Perhaps The Soloist would have benefited from sticking closer to the source material without trying to force melodrama at every turn. Adding some narrative focus would have also helped but as it stands The Soloist winds up being a missed opportunity.

Next Time: The Bank Job

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