Michael Douglas, right, stars as an aging Lothario, with Jesse Eisenberg, left, and Imogen Poots as the young people who fall under his sway in Solitary Man. (Alliance Films)

The Michael Douglas performance we're all waiting for is his reprise of Gordon Gekko in the sequel to Wall Street, which opens in September. In the meantime, we can warm up by watching him play a character that's almost as despicable in Solitary Man.

A fast-talking lech on the cusp of 60, Michael Douglas's character preys on young women a third his age.

In this moody male-menopause drama, Douglas stars as Ben Kalmen, an erstwhile hotshot New York car dealer whose empire collapsed after he was caught scamming customers. That might not put him in the same criminal class as Wall Street raider Gekko, but Ben Kalmen has other noxious qualities to make up for it.

A fast-talking lech on the cusp of 60, Ben habitually preys on young women a third his age. In Gekko's cynical style, he takes an impressionable youth (Jesse Eisenberg) under his wing and passes on his cold, mercantile view of sexual relations. He mooches off his long-suffering daughter (Jenna Fischer) and then misses his admiring grandson's birthday party. (Reason: He was sleeping with the mother of one of the boy's classmates and lost track of the time.)

Directors Brian Koppelman and David Levien have set themselves quite a task. In the course of this 90-minute film, we have to go from regarding Ben with the same distaste we feel at stepping in dog feces to sympathizing with the guy. The filmmakers don't quite succeed, but it's not for lack of trying.

Six and a half years ago, Ben had a chain of dealerships and a business profile worthy of a Forbes magazine cover. Then he blew it all by recklessly engaging in some illegal sales practices. Now, having paid his fines and endured public disgrace, he's raring for a comeback. He hopes to start up a new car lot on a prime piece of real estate, and his rich girlfriend, Jordan (Mary Louise Parker), is pulling some strings to make it happen.

With a stunning lack of insight into the man she's dating, a flu-bitten Jordan asks Ben to accompany her 18-year-old daughter Allyson (Imogen Poots) to her college admissions interview. We can see what's going to happen before they've even boarded the plane to Boston. "The heart wants what it wants," as Woody Allen said in a not dissimilar situation. Or as the crass Ben might put it, "the loins want what they want."

Ben's stupid indiscretion scuppers his business comeback and sends his life into a tailspin. Before long, this Don Juan with all the answers is seeking advice from his old college pal Jimmy (a nicely understated Danny DeVito), who has been married 38 years and is still happily making sandwiches in his family's deli. There is also wisdom to be had from Ben's ex-wife Nancy (Susan Sarandon), a successful realtor who regards Ben's immature antics with mild amusement. She, too, makes a convincing argument for the comfort of long-term relationships.

A sexually voracious Ben (Douglas) jeopardizes his relationship with his girlfriend, Jordan (Mary Louise Parker), in Solitary Man. (Alliance Films)

The title Solitary Man comes from an old Neil Diamond song, heard over the opening credits in a version by the late Johnny Cash. As Ben, Douglas is a little like a thinner, shorter Cash, nattily clad in black, with a luxurious mane of hair. But where the once wild Cash gained dignity with age, Ben is still pathetically in denial that he's getting old. What experience he's accrued over the years is just used to sweet-talk women into his bed. Singing Diamond's lyrics, Cash vents his disgust at the idea of love as "a part-time thing," but that's exactly what it is to Ben.

Douglas has covered this territory before. He's done the aging-male-in-crisis bit (Falling Down, Wonder Boys), as well as the straying partner who pays heavily for his infidelity (Fatal Attraction). Although he's a fine actor, I've never found him all that sympathetic – he has a hard, slightly reptilian quality that gets in the way. That's one reason I couldn't buy this movie's attempt to show Ben's scared, vulnerable side. The other reason is a too-pat explanation for his outrageous behaviour.

But you certainly buy Douglas as an ace salesman and Koppelman, who also wrote the screenplay, gives him glib dialogue that sounds like a perpetual sales pitch. The picture also gains from top-notch casting, even in the minor roles. This is a "Hey, it's…" kind of movie, as in: "Hey, it's Pam from The Office!" (Fischer.) Or, "Hey, it's the best friend from Juno!" (Olivia Thirlby, as a well-grounded co-ed who repels Ben's overtures.)

Sometimes, too many familiar faces can keep us from getting immersed in a drama. But it can also work for a film. I wondered why I immediately felt solicitous towards Eisenberg as a smart but callow college student, until I remembered he was one of the sons in Noah Baumbach's divorce comedy/drama The Squid and the Whale. The idea of that poor kid escaping his neurotic parents only to come under the thrall of Douglas's prowling lone wolf is enough to stir up anyone's protective instincts.

Solitary Man opens in Toronto on July 2.

Martin Morrow writes about the arts for CBC News.