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Soul Men
Metascore
49 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 23
  3. Negative: 2 out of 23
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    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.
  2. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    There's nothing quite like watching Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac performing at a hoedown and getting into it with the audience.
  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    70
    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.
  4. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Chuck Wilson
    70
    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.
  5. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    70
    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.
  6. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    63
    Soul Men is a chance to salute these masters of mirth and music. Take it.
  7. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    63
    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.
  8. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: David Hiltbrand
    63
    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.
  9. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Jason Buchanan
    63
    It's a joy to watch soul legend Isaac Hayes in one of his final roles.
  10. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    63
    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.
  11. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    63
    Soul Men isn't much of a movie, but it bubbles along and reaches its percolating high point at the very end.
  12. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    60
    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.
  13. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    60
    A raucous, rambling comedy, offering some laughs, some groans and a feast for fans of the musical idioms it mocks and celebrates.
  14. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    50
    Needless to say, Soul Men has a lot to overcome in its effort to be funny.
  15. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    50
    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.
  16. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    50
    Soul Men could have done with less amped-up abrasiveness and more soft-shoe charm.
  17. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    50
    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.
  18. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    50
    Mac was a magnetic performer with a long history of redeeming mediocre movies; unfortunately this is another one.
  19. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Josh Rosenblatt
    40
    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.
  20. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    40
    Couldn't be more unhip -- it just never hits the groove.
  21. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    40
    Misbegotten buddy-bonding comedy of errors.
  22. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    38
    If you insist on seeing Soul Men, stick around during the closing credits for the best part of the movie, an interview with Mac.
  23. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    0
    For all its crudeness and desperation, Soul Men can't scare up a single laugh.
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User Reviews

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User Score
5.2 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 6 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3
  1. JayH.
    5
    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.… Full Review »
  2. Gary
    1
    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.
  3. ChadS.
    6
    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).… Full Review »
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