Soul Men (2008)
Vulgar, obnoxious and offensive, Soul Men was a bit hard to finish at times when I would think to myself “what’s the point?” Knowing that it was Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes last film, I stayed through till the end and summed it up as a mediocre but entertaining movie.
Soul Men is all about a road trip, grossly similar to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with Steve Martin and the late John Candy. The premise is of two bitter, older men who are forced to spend five days together traveling to the Apollo theater. The men are two soul singers: Floyd Henderson (Bernie Mac) and Louis Hinds (Samuel L. Jackson). Once part of a triad of Soul brothers, singing backup to the legendary Marcus Hooks (John Legend), Floyd and Louis are invited to perform at the Apollo theater to honor Marcus after his death. The problem however is that the three had split up to pursue individual careers and the relationship between Floyd and Louis had become estranged.
This movie is a good example of toilet comedy at it’s best. There are lewd jokes aimed at homosexuality, race relations and age. There are unapologetic stereotypes of every kind and the true story of friendship, love and reunion is lost beneath Bernie Mac’s ass cheeks ebbing and flowing as he pounds the flesh of fat latinas and white women on this trip. The communication between the old friends are limited to prison experiences, woman stealing, drugs and sexual prowess. Somewhere in there they discuss some soul music but that is all forgotten once the fat woman pops out her dentures to give Bernie Mac a “job”. Yes this is Soul Men, but let’s not forget the cussing… well it’s Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac together, I shouldn’t have to explain that the use of the word motherf—– makes it way into almost every scene.
All in all, I would not say that the movie was awful, just somewhere down the middle. If you are a fan of Bernie Mac then you will adore this movie since it’s him being himself. If you are a stranger to black humor (yes this exists) then don’t watch this movie until you have trained your palette with bite-size pieces like Friday, Half-Baked and How High. If you are the nostalgic type and you want to hold unto a piece of Bernie and Isaac Hayes, then add this to your collection. Beneath the sh-tty writing and mediocrity, there is an underlying homage to true friendship, and a nice send-off within the closing credits to the late Bernie Mac. I expected a bit more but was not shocked in the end, cast your own judgement.
Filed under Comedy, Drama · Tagged with bernie mac, blues men, malcolm d. lee, samuel l jackson, sharon leal
