The Soloist is a true story based on the life of a homeless schizophrenic street musician living on Skid Row in L.A.

It also tells the story of urban street people, with no bars held on emotional restraint.

Most of the people we see are not actors, even those with speaking lines, and their group therapy confessions are real.

Some of the comic relief just didn't work and should have been left out, but over all this is an unusually honest movie about homelessness and newspaper reporting.

The acting is great and the story is familiar, but the directing and editing could use some work.

Yes, it's the American version of Shine, with Jamie Foxx playing the Geoffrey Rush role, only this time the flashbacks go nowhere and -- for some unknown reason -- a psychedelic light show is thrown in.

Based on a true story by journalist Steve Lopez, the story is compelling, but the outcome is preachy and predictable.

The movie tells the story of a schizophrenic homeless musician and of the newspaperman who writes about him.

The Soloist is based on a true story, but the picture takes a painful diligent effort not to butter up the facts.

And so the film sweeps us in without offering the expected inspirational effect.

Everything is a little shapeless, yet the flick is made with a quality of being truly sincere and tasteful.

It's powerful madness, with two powerful actors.