Soul Men
a lackluster comedy tarnishes it's stars
2008-11-07
By Sergio Mims

CAST:  Samuel L. Jackson, Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes, Sean Hayes, Sharon Leal, John Legend, Affion Crockett
WRITTEN BY: Robert Ramsey & Matthew Stone
DIRECTED BY:  Malcolm D. Lee

*  One star

Perhaps the saddest thing about the new comedy Soul Men, the latest comedy by director Malcolm D. Lee (The Best Man, Welcome Home Brother Charles, Roll Bounce) the much less talented cousin of Spike, is that the funny and much loved comedian Bernie Mac will never get another opportunity to make up for the misfortune of appearing in this film.

Simply put, Soul Men is a travesty.  A vulgar, ineptly made, painfully unfunny disaster. Instead of clever situations, creative twists on old stock movie clichés and novel concepts, Soul Men falls back on crude shtick, endless penis jokes and old dog clichés that everyone has seen in hundreds of other movies. Add to that Lee’s incompetent
direction and Men’s insipid, F-word laced dialogue, and what you have  is a lame attempt at comedy which no doubt will receive cold dead silence from the audience wishing they had spent their hard earned bucks on another more worthy film.

The film deals with two former singers (Mac and Jackson) of a famous soul music trio who experience wildly differing degrees of success when the lead singer (played in a wordless cameo by John Legend) goes off on his own to massive acclaim and success.

Twenty years after the group disbands Legend suddenly dies and the two old enemies are asked to come back together, which they reluctantly do, to perform at a memorial service for Legend at the Apollo Theater in N.Y. From that point on, the bulk of the film consists of a cross county trip from L.A. to N.Y. as Mac and Jackson argue, bicker and fuss, punch each other, fire off guns and get into all kinds of tedious shenanigans including jail breaks and a one night stand with a mother and her daughter. Along the way they meet up with Mac’s (possible) daughter (Leal) and encounter (several times!) her abusive, drug dealing and wanna-be rapper boyfriend (Crockett).

The madness ends with their triumphant appearance at the Apollo with the law hot on their heels and climaxes with a supposedly comic scene so tasteless and offensive (especially considering Macs untimely death shortly after the film was completed) that it staggers the mind.

Jackson, with no obvious motivation for doing this film except for another big paycheck, literally screams his way through the film as if everyone suffers from hearing problems. Mac is strangely off his game here, his comic timing all but missing. Jackson has been quoted as stating that Mac was quite ill during the making of the film and that filming was, at times, a physical struggle for him, which could explain his lack of spark and energy.

Leal as the traveling companion has no impact, but Crocket is a compete embarrassment and painful to watch in his full bloom coonery as the boyfriend.

Isaac Hayes, another recently lost legend, has proven he can be an engaging actor in films like Hustle and Flow and, of course, Truck Turner. In Soul Men, Hayes is totally wasted, appearing in few scenes, then stiffly reading his lines as if from cue cards. Perhaps the only small pleasure is the too brief cameo appearance by the legendary adult film goddess from the 70’s and 80’s Vanessa Del Rio, but even she is totally wasted.

But the most offensive aspect of the film is Soul Men’s attitude, condescending in the sloppy technique, crudeness in tone and demeaning lowest common dominator approach which insults the intended (black) audience as if they’re too stupid, too base and lack the sophistication to know or even want better.

Soul Men is a sad film because of what it could have been rather than what it was. That this was the final outing for two giants in the entertainment industry shows a lack of respect. Both they and the audience deserve much better.

Film critic, lecturer and festival consultant Sergio Mims covers all things film from the city that works, Chicago. He is a regular contributor to EbonyJet.com.