Photo by Doug Hyun, Dimension Films
Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson star in Malcolm D. Lee's "Soul Men."
A PG-13-style inspirational comedy/drama struggles to escape from the crude R-rated sexual humor and nonstop profanity of “Soul Men,” a flawed salute to the legacy of Stax that now, sadly, also represents a tribute to the memory of two of its stars, Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes.
Mac and Samuel L. Jackson are perfectly cast as Floyd and Louis, former Stax recording artists whose careers as members of soul ensemble “The Real Deal” hit the skids after their egomaniacal lead singer, Marcus Hooks (John Legend), split for solo fame.
Photo by Doug Hyun
Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson star in Malcolm D. Lee's "Soul Men."
Bernie Mac (left), Isaac Hayes and Samuel L. Jackson star in "Soul Men." The movie, which was partially filmed and set in Memphis, premieres Friday in theaters nationwide. An invitation-only benefit screening will take place Wednesday at the Orpheum.Doug HyunDimension Films
The two remaining members of the popular soul band, The Real Deal, from the 1970s, Floyd Henderson, now a retired businessman, and ne'er-do-well, ex-convict, Louis ...
Rating: R for pervasive language, and sexual content including nudity
Length: 103 minutes
Released: November 7, 2008 Nationwide
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Bernie Mac, Jennifer Coolidge, Sean Hayes, Ken Davitian
Director: Malcolm D. Lee
Writer: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone
When recording superstar Marcus dies suddenly, Floyd, a retired car-wash king, enlists the reluctant Louis, a failed bank robber, to join him on a cross-country road trip to Harlem’s famous Apollo Theater to perform at an all-star tribute to their former leader. (The funeral-centered plot makes the viewer particularly aware that the movie is a sort of valedictory for Mac, who died Aug. 9 at the age of 49, and Hayes, who died the next day at 65.
The final credits are accompanied by outtakes featuring the two stars, and a dedication to “Two Real Soul Men.”)
The road trip format enables director Malcolm D. Lee and screenwriters Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone to pull several classic songs from the Memphis soul catalog, as well as shoot some Memphis location footage. In Amarillo, in a scene basically lifted from “The Blue Brothers,” Floyd and Louis perform Rufus Thomas’ “Boogie Ain’t Nuttin’ (But Gettin’ Down)” at a country-western bar; in Memphis, backed by Scott Bomar and the Stax veterans of the Bo-Keys, they sing Isaac Hayes’ “Do Your Thing,” as Hayes himself watches.
Mac and Jackson can’t really sing, however, so the more effective musical moments are simpler: an impromptu roadside interpretation of “I’m Your Puppet,” for example, and co-star Sharon Leal’s solo piano cover of Carla Thomas’ “Comfort Me.”
Leal plays a young woman who may be Louis or Floyd’s daughter. She joins the pair on the road (they drive by Stax, and visit The Peabody and Beale Street), as does a nerdy white record company employee/soul aficionado played by Adam Herschman. The funniest performer, however, is Affion Crocket as Leal’s idiot boyfriend, a would-be rapper who tells Floyd and Louis: “You ain’t had a hit since Ike hit Tina.”
Period recreations aside (audiences will enjoy seeing Mac and Jackson in costumes and hairdos that track their careers through the eras of early soul, Motown slickness, Funkadelica and disco), “Soul Men” is as visually bland as a TV movie. Its themes of family reconciliation and personal rehabilitation also suggest a television production. In fact, the film would have benefited from embracing its “family” aspect rather than the unleashed foul mouths of its stars.
Kids will love this film, thanks to the almost Abbott-and-Costello-like byplay of Louis and Floyd, and some parents will like the idea that the story promotes classic soul — music played with actual instruments, as Louis says — over rap. But a movie in which Jennifer Coolidge plays a honky-tonk ho’ who removes her false teeth during a bedroom tryst with Floyd and exclaims, “Look who’s coming to dinner” isn’t really for children. As such moments demonstrate, it’s the script not Floyd that needs a shot of Viagra.
— John Beifuss, 529-2394
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