It stars oscar winner Jamie Foxx(Dreamgirls) as Nathaniel Ayers a former student at the prestigious Juilliard school of the arts, but now out on his luck living on the streets which he has chosen to do (apparently Jamie Foxx took a chisel to his perfectly immaculate set of white teeth, to give an authentic look for the tramp, he said he looked at himself in the mirror rehearsing for the role, and said a tramp wouldn’t have such a perfect set of teeth. You have to admire the dedication), and Robert Downey Jr.(Iron man, Tropical Thunder) as journalist Steve Lopez.

We first meet Nathaniel as Steve Lopez is feeling a little sorry for himself, his arm in a cast after a previous accident, and simply looking to while the time, he is enchanted, as no doubt the audience by the seemingly well-disposed Nathaniel who sees the beauty even in the busy sidewalk where he plays his battered down violin with a few strings missing. Steve Lopez as many an investigate reporter checks out his story, and indeed confirms he was at the prestigious Julliard school of the arts.

In his attempts to aide Nathaniel settle into a life of normalcy and indeed start playing again in front of a respectable audience, you soon realise Nathaniel is certainly not balanced, and this is where the great acting permeates through, because you are never quite sure where Nathaniel well being is, one minute he is calm relaxed, and sociable, leaving you wonder how he could have got to such debts in the first place, and the next moment, you realise he is not well at all.

There is family for Nathaniel as Steve investigates(and no doubt the audience also wonders about) in the form of his sister Jennifer, played by the lovely Lisa Gay Hamilton(The sum of all fears), but it never deviates from the main thrust of the movie, the relationship between the unstable Nathaniel and the attempts to save him by his new friend Steve Lopez, and you are left on the edge of your seat hoping for the best but not being too optimistic.

We join as Yilan collects her father from the airport, as he is visiting America for one of his tours, but as with any concerned parent, what he is really interested in, is if his daughter is happy in America. At first as with any cultural change Mr. Shi is a little perplexed at his new surroundings, from the unemployed girl getting a suntan, and having to avert his eyes while trying to hold a decent conversation with her will be cause for some amusement, showing the diversity between values from communist China and the contemporary United States.

The highlight of the movie are the conversations Mr. Shi has with an Iranian woman(played wonderfully by Vida Ghahremani) on the bench at a local park, both hardly speak any english and their atempts to communicate using all they can think of is sure to ring a bell with many individuals, or people we have tried to communicate to before, after a while you as well as Mr. Shi look forward to the conversations in the park, they act as a suitable distraction for the problems going on at home.

We find as Mr. Shi is reaching the end of his life he wants to make up for whatever pain he may have caused his daughter, although well meaning, we find that his daughter is a little distant and reluctant to accept his advice after what it seems as an absent father for so long, and like any american she certainly doesn’t feel he has the right to meddle in her affairs.