Cast: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr, Catherine Keenan.

JAMIE Foxx might have been hoping lightning would strike twice after winning an Oscar the last time he played a real-life musician. In his second such role he portrays homeless cellist Nathaniel Ayers, who dropped out of the prestigious Juilliard School and landed on the streets due to mental illness.

It's another stunning turn from Foxx, who disappears behind the veil of Ayers' babbling schizophrenia, but this is less a solo piece than a duet with Robert Downey jnr.

The always-good Downey plays Steve Lopez, the real-life journalist who came across the shambolic Ayers playing a violin with only two strings on the streets of Los Angeles.

Lopez' initial interest is in getting a good story out of Ayers' plight, which leads him to try and help the homeless virtuoso.

The journalist soon comes to realise the difficulties and realities that come with dealing with someone with a mental illness.

Downey's character is intriguing, swinging from exploitative to caring to just-wanting-to-be-done-with-the- whole-thing, and he and Foxx don't have chemistry as such but sit together well.

Despite only being 100 minutes long, The Soloist drags and we probably could have done without some of the film's oh-so-obvious touches, including numerous scenes where Lopez sits and thinks (yes, we know he's conflicted) or a 2001-esque light-and-sound experience meant to illustrate what happens when Ayers hears a symphony play (yes, we know he really, really likes music).

The film's attempt to tell the story from Lopez's viewpoint is also disturbed by some haphazard flashbacks into Ayers' life which, while illuminating, bog the movie down.

Still, The Soloist has plenty going for it, including some interesting ideas about treating and caring for the mentally ill , the general malaise of modern society, issues surrounding homelessness and the role of the modern media.

Add two intriguing characters realised by two of the top actors of recent times and The Soloist is well worth checking out.