The Pigeons are Clapping

Rating: 7/10 (26 April 2009)

Greetings again from the darkness. Odd fact-based story of one-time musical prodigy-now homeless man Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx) and his chance encounter turned friendship with LA Times writer Steve Lopez (Robert Downey, Jr.). The story is pretty tough to watch at times but director Joe Wright (Atonement) does a good job of adding enough Hollywood to prevent it from spinning too far off into mental illness and politics.
RDJ and Mr. Foxx are both excellent in their presentation of challenging characters. The music is, of course, excellent (Mr. Ayers has a fascination with Beethoven) and we get a glimpse inside the LA symphony hall (designed by Frank Gehry).
There were a few continuity issues and some of the scenes were a bit too fluffy for me, but this is such an amazing story that you can't help but find it interesting. First movie I can recall where a lead character has a run in with a urine container ... not once, but twice. And Neil Diamond has a couple of songs and photo, which just adds to the weirdness