Review of Soul Men (2008) by Jesse O — 07 Aug 2010

I had fun watching this movie, much more than I probably should have. The story is simple and predictable. There are some really funny scenes, but they're sporadic and the rest of the humor isn't very consistent.

But goddamnit Samuel Jackson and Bernie Mac sure had some great chemistry with each other and they bring a lot of life to a movie that, otherwise, would have been below average. Samuel Jackson clearly gave a shit and he's quite good here, there are some flashes of the old Samuel here, but it's not like this movie would have been a revival for him.

If Black Snake Moan wasn't (don't gimme that Snakes on a Plane bullshit) then this movie won't do that. I was never a big fan of Bernie Mac, but he's also quite good here and it looked liked they had a lot of fun working with each other.

The plot of the movie is actually pretty sad considering that Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes passed away 3 months (Hayes passed away the day after Bernie, which is pretty sad) before the release of the movie, so that must have been a big downer on the cast and crew.

So that sucks, because that was on my mind and some of the scenes (the scene in the giant coffin) were disturbing with the benefit of hindsight. One thing I didn't like was how the movie tried to present the characters as much older than they actually were.

John Legend's character was 63 when he died so you expect me to believe these guys are probably older than that....ummm yea, not gonna happen. It doesn't help that Samuel and Bernie play their characters in the FLASHBACKS.

Either apply some make-up to make them look older, or have younger actors portray them in the flashbacks, because it just looked hokey. It started the movie out of a sour note. There's also Lester, what a goddamn goofy character, I was greatly entertained by this character.

Of course, his goofiness makes it all the more apparent that you're watching a movie, therefore he is a detriment as nobody that goofy exists in real life. There's also Sam's character's daughter.

...my oh my what a lovely young lass. I look forward to seeing more of her...in FHM or Maxim, preferably...PIG...ANYWAYS, the music in this movie is quite good as well. So the combination of a likeable cast, some really funny moments (involving Lester), some good music make this a more than watcheable movie.

It has its flaws, it's humor is never consistent and its predictability, but it's a perfectly acceptable and entertaining movie to watch if you got a couple of hours to spare. I probably won't remember it years from now, but for now I'm completely fine with this movie for the time being.