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Soul Men
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 5 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by:
Robert Ramsey
Matthew Stone
Directed by: Malcolm Lee
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 7, 2008
DVD: February 10, 2009
Running Time: 103 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for pervasive language, and sexual content including nudity
Starring Bernie Mac, Samuel L. Jackson, Sean Hayes, Sharon Leal, Jennifer Coolidge, Isaac Hayes, Affion Crockett, and John Legend
Louis and Floyd were a popular singing duo back in the day, but then they went their separate ways and never spoke again. When the death of their former group leader reunites them and sends them driving cross country for a tribute concert at the legendary Apollo Theatre, they will have only five days to bury the hatchet on a twenty-year-old grudge. (MGM)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
ReelViews James Berardinelli
There's nothing quite like watching Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac performing at a hoedown and getting into it with the audience.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This movie has a lot of good music in it, some on the soundtrack, some on the screen. Jackson and Bernie Mac have enormous fun doing intricate dance moves together.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
This contemporary riff on "The Sunshine Boys" generally manages to succeed anyway, thanks to the entertaining performances by Mac and co-star Samuel L. Jackson and its generous doses of raucous humor and sweet soul music.
Read Full Review >Variety Brian Lowry
There's a nice chemistry between Mac and Samuel L. Jackson in this latest variant of the road movie, which contains comedic elements but actually works better as a drama.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Chuck Wilson
Mac and Jackson carry the show--particularly Mac, who's at his crackly, cranky best here. As swan songs go, Soul Men is pretty sweet.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
The funniest bit in the crude but diverting Soul Men really makes you miss Bernie Mac, who died in August, a few months after completing the picture.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand
Jackson gets by mostly on bluster, but that doesn't matter because he serves mostly as a foil to Mac's popeyed shake-and-bake antics.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
The material doesn't consistently do justice to their talents, but the movie is worth seeing for their chemistry and for the Motown-infused soundtrack.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Soul Men is a chance to salute these masters of mirth and music. Take it.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Jason Buchanan
It's a joy to watch soul legend Isaac Hayes in one of his final roles.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Soul Men isn't much of a movie, but it bubbles along and reaches its percolating high point at the very end.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
A raucous, rambling comedy, offering some laughs, some groans and a feast for fans of the musical idioms it mocks and celebrates.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
The script is basically a retread of every other AARP comedy, from "Grumpy Old Men" to "Wild Hogs." The laughs, in other words, are of the Viagra and kidney stone variety.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Soul Men could have done with less amped-up abrasiveness and more soft-shoe charm.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The movie also qualifies as a kind of low-rent, male version of "Dreamgirls," but -- while many of the numbers are pleasant -- it doesn't have the moxie to work as a musical.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
There are two reasons to put up with Soul Men, and that's the soul men themselves. Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac appear to be having a good time, and for most of this raunchy, poorly orchestrated buddy comedy, that's enough.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Mac was a magnetic performer with a long history of redeeming mediocre movies; unfortunately this is another one.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Needless to say, Soul Men has a lot to overcome in its effort to be funny.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Couldn't be more unhip -- it just never hits the groove.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt
Whenever Soul Men is in need of a jolt of energy, these two poets of profanity are always ready with rapid-fire, mean-spirited rants that would make the writers of "Deadwood" blush.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
If you insist on seeing Soul Men, stick around during the closing credits for the best part of the movie, an interview with Mac.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
For all its crudeness and desperation, Soul Men can't scare up a single laugh.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.4 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jay H. gave it a5:
Disappointing and not as funny as I was hoping. It's not bad but I saw so much lost potential. The cast does fine, some good music but it isn't at all memorable. Very routine stuff.
Gary gave it a1:
Eerie to see the late Bernie Mac one last time on the big screen. He was a very good comedian. But unfortunately this is not a very good movie.
Chad S. gave it a6:
Talk about being a consummate professional, before filming began on Michael Radford's "Il Postino", Italian actor Massimo Troisi said, "Wait a minute/wait a minute," to the heart surgeon instead of the fictitious "Mr. Postman". Talk about being a trooper; Troisi suffered a massive coronary because of his selfless dedication. The postman died. In a motion picture about sixties-era soul music that features a posthumous performance by a then-ailing man, the 1964 Marvelettes hit "Please Mr. Postman" and the five-time Oscar nominated film from 1996 seems relevant to mention. Without a doubt, Bernie Mac's untimely death is responsible for many wince-inducing moments that lend a ghoulish fascination to the filmic proceedings. In one pointed scene, he emerges from a coffin like Screamin' Jay Hawkins. In another, he's mixing sleeping pills and alcohol like David Ruffin. Gallows humor, or ironical foreshadowing, call it what you want; seeing Mac before his Mac attack definitely raises the game of this servicable tribute to old-school rhythm and blues. So is The Real Deal more of a Stax, or a Motown act? My money is on Stax(the cameo of stacked porn star Vanessa Del Rio plays like a referential inside joke) as being the label that "Soul Men" pays homage to(also, the late Issac Hayes recorded for the independent Memphis record company), since "Dreamgirls" already essayed the Berry Gordy-run empire. When it comes to black artists in the music biz, especially concerning the little matter about royalties, everybody knows that many R & B pioneers were ripped off. What's notable about "Soul Men" is that the people doing the stealing from black artists are other black people. Like comedian Chris Rock, the star of "The Bernie Mac Show" never was one to shy away from talking hard truths to America, and this includes criticism about his own kind. In particular, the film's attack on sampling in rap is revelatory, when Floyd Henderson(Bernie Mac) and Louis Hinds(Samuel L. Jackson) take issue with an upstart rapper's "borrowing" of a Real Deal bassline. Back in the late-eighties, Alternative hip-hoppers De La Soul sampled the sixties pop group The Turtles' "You Showed Me" for their music collage track "Transmitting Live from Mars", and seriously pissed them off. They sued. Floyd and Louis, like Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman(of The Turtles), concur with ex-Icicle Works frontman Ian McNabb's assertion about "rappers stealing everything"(from "Great Dreams of Heaven"). In many instances, the music industry specialized in the thievery of black artists, but "Soul Men" has the honesty and integrity to demonstrate that thievery is often colorblind(remember: Stax's founders Jim Stewart & Estelle Axton were white, and Atlantic Records stole their masters).
