X
- 1986
- PG-13
- New World Pictures
- 1 h 44 m
- 1986
- PG-13
- New World Pictures
- 1 h 44 m
Summary To achieve his dream of attending Harvard law school, a rich UCLA Grad (C. Thomas Howell) poses as a young black man to receive a full scholarship.
Directed By: Steve Miner
Written By: Carol Black
- 1986
- PG-13
- New World Pictures
- 1 h 44 m
- 1986
- PG-13
- New World Pictures
- 1 h 44 m
Soul Man
33
7.0
Where to Watch
Summary To achieve his dream of attending Harvard law school, a rich UCLA Grad (C. Thomas Howell) poses as a young black man to receive a full scholarship.
Directed By: Steve Miner
Written By: Carol Black
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
33
25% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
25% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
50% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 12 Critic Reviews
33
25% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
25% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
50% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
This social farce is excellently written, fast paced and intelligently directed. Film is hilarious throughout.
Soul Man isn't designed for realism, nor does it aim at any lofty moral. It was concocted strictly for laughs, and it delivers an adequate number. [24 Dec 1986]
Though some viewers are sure to take offense, between the scattered laughs the movie's most remarkable achievement is its run-of-the mill dullness. [10 Nov 1986, p.86]
At its heart, however, Soul Man is a one-gag story propelled by sitcom material; there are times you'd swear you were watching Lucy. And because the filmmakers really aren't up to their premise, the movie ends on a note of forced harmony that's enough to make the blood run cold. It's a reminder that even good white liberals still aren't sure how to act around black people. Which, come to think of it, would make a fine, socially "relevant" comedy. Perhaps Hollywood will make it someday. [27 Oct 1986, p.C4]
Chong breathes some occasional life into Soul Man, as does Arye Gross, who displays a rich variety of comic attitudes as Mark's roommate. What surrounds them, though, is a black comedy with so little gumption, it ends up a vague shade of gray, composed of a collection of cheap jokes excused by smug platitudes about race -- in short, a movie called Soul Man whose soul, it seems, is quite lost.
This is a genuinely interesting idea, filled with dramatic possibilities, but the movie approaches it on the level of a dim-witted sit-com. Thoughtful scenes are followed by slapstick, emotional moments lead right into farce, and the movie doesn't have an ounce of true moral courage; it sidesteps every single big issue that it raises.
Howell, a second-string Rob Lowe, has the title role in this embarrassing variation on "Black Like Me," a half-witted collegiate farce guaranteed to offend just about everybody. Blacks are stereotyped as they haven't been in decades, and whites are portrayed as Boston bigots and selfish preppies. But the really pathetic thing about this tired old knee-jerker is not that it's racist, but that it's racist and doesn't even know it.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 4 User Ratings
7.0
50% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
50% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 4 User Ratings
7.0
50% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
50% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
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