The Soloist: Movie vs. The Book

I think the movie did an effective job of casting a light on mental illness and homelessness in Los Angeles. However, I don't think that the movie did an effective job of portraying the struggle of the journalist to tell the story.

Although it seems to be an insignificant difference, one detail that is different in the movie than in the book is Steve Lopez's personal life. In the book, he is married with two sons and a young daughter. However, the movie portrays Steve Lopez as a divorced man with an estranged son. While I can see how making this change allows for the movie to be slightly more dramatic and gives Lopez the extra time needed to spend with Nathaniel I think there are benefits to showing him as a married man. In the novel, the trust that develops between Ayers and Lopez is shown when Lopez starts to consider Ayers part of the family and invites him over for Easter, allowing him to meet his entire family-wife and children.

Another change in the movie, is that Robert Downey Jr. does not portray Lopez to be as sympathetic of a character as I had pictured from the book. In the movie, it seems that Lopez spends most of his time just being aggravated by Ayers as opposed to genuinely trying to help him. Where as in the book, he tries to help Nathaniel at a much quicker rate. However, in both the book and the movie, Lopez's friendship with Ayers is portrayed as having immensely changed both their lives.