Such high hopes have diminished into sheer disappointment.

Rating: 3/10 (26 April 2009)

Made watchable through it's rich performances (especially Robert Downey Jr.) and it's beautiful music, but the film feels like it's trying to hard to cover too much ground while at the same time beating you over the head with humanitarian elements that really have no place or room.
A friendship is formed between a divorced writer and a homeless, schizophrenic musician when they have a chance meeting. What could have been a great story about friendship went heavy handed and up it's own ass in little messages that by the end of the film I, in a way, felt cheated. I felt like they were teasing me with a good story and actors but instead decided to give me pointless intersections throughout (don't even get me started on Nathaniel Ayers' "flashbacks" and "thoughts").
The film would have been better if they had concentrated on the point of view of Robert Downey, Jr.'s character and not try to dive into Ayers' psyche. That made it seem hokey and with the addition of what Downey's character said near the end made it that much more insulting. There was just so much stuff the filmmakers tried to cover and didn't elaborate very much on.
The performances, though, were brilliant. Foxx gets a little over-the-top with his ability to scene-chew, but Downey gives a down to earth, realistic performance. Even though they were all really good, I just kept feeling like Foxx was just trying to out-act Downey. With that said, he was still wonderful.
I don't know. Maybe I'm reading too much into it and maybe I'm just ragging on it because I didn't like it, but, oh well. I am a critic, right?