I 've spent the past 48 hours trying to decide what I thought of "The Soloist," the true story of Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless musician in Los Angeles and the L.A. Times reporter (Steve Lopez, played by Robert Downey Jr.) who befriended him. So much about the film is worthy of praise, and certainly the story is one worth telling... and yet by no means did I walk out of the theater two days ago thinking, "I have to get everyone I know to see this movie!"

Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Anthony Ayers are both real, living, breathing people. "The Soloist," written by Susannah Grant, is based on the book by Lopez; the book was inspired by a series of columns Lopez wrote for the L.A. Times about his encounters with Ayers. As is always the case with films about real folks, there is a different feeling when you are in the audience. After all, there are no special effects here. There is no villain to root against. There is nothing, really, in "The Soloist" that makes it seem acceptable to let the film go in one ear and out the other like, for example, any movie based on a comic book.

It's real life. Somehow that makes things hit home with a little more conviction. Ayers, nearing 60 now if my math is correct, is a man with a story so sad I found myself wishing it weren't true. Growing up in Ohio, Ayers proved to be a gifted musician; his gift lead to an unlikely scholarship at Juilliard. Once at the prestigious school, however, Ayers' schizophrenia surfaced and eventually forced him out of the school. At some point, Ayers became one of the many lost souls here in Los Angeles. Just another homeless man.

Until, by sheer chance, his music caught the ear of an L.A. Times reporter named Steve Lopez.

"The Soloist" more-or-less starts us off there (Lopez's first column on Ayers). Over the course of the film, through flashbacks, we see the stages of Ayers' illness and how awful it made life for him. I suspect it is impossible for anyone to know what schizophrenics actually deal with, but the speculation --if at all accurate - is no fun either (voices, paranoia, an altered reality). In any case, we the audience experience Nathaniel Anthony Ayers vicariously through Lopez. Each step of their relationship on screen is the same step we take, for better or for worse.

It is not a coincidence that the moments featuring nothing other than Lopez and Ayers hashing out their friendship are by far the strongest parts of "The Soloist." Foxx and Downey Jr. both accomplish what only good actors can do from time to time: they become their characters. Foxx has shed every shred of his usual funnyman routine; Downey Jr. never lets his patented biting sarcasm see the light of day. If it were November instead of May I'm sure the Oscar buzz would be loud.

Unfortunately, despite the performances from its leads, "The Soloist" is not nearly as powerful as it should be. It is at times heartbreaking and at other times quite joyous. When the movie ends, though, I'm not sure Point B feels all that much different from Point A. I found myself sitting in the theater, reading the epilogues about the film's real characters, wondering how I was supposed to feel.

Maybe the story of Nathaniel Anthony Ayers is just impossible to complete right now, since he's still playing his music. I like that notion. Let's go with that!