Soul Men

I have never counted Bernie Mac as a favorite stand up comedian of mine and I never will. Don't get me wrong he was hilarious, but he was not a favorite of mine. Having said that, there was a reason he went last on The Original Kings of Comedy tour. he was less famous than Cedric, Steve Harvey and D.L Hughley, but he went last. He is the one you would remember, he was the one you would quote and he was the one who made you feel the happiest. Bernie Mac always had that in his stand up and even in some of his movies. he was a verbal giant with a great voice. the most expressive face and the mind and mouth to turn the F word into art. He seemed to have a genuine love of life, which is not shared by many comedians. He was a master at turning his life into jokes. His movies never fully got to get his entire personality on camera and they never took full advantage of his perfectly fine tuned F word bomb dropping skills. Then he teamed up with Samuel L. Jackson, another skilled F bomb dropper and it was to be comic gold. Sadly, Bernie Mac never got to see it. And now we will never know what else he could have been capable of.

Back in the day, Louis(Jackson) and Floyd(Mac) were back up singers for Marcus Hooks(John legend). hooks went solo and became a massive star, and Louis and Floyd, or "The Real Deal" had one major hit and then broke up. Here it is 3 decades later and Floyd is moving into a retirement home. He spent years and years as a rich and successful business owner and now he has given the business over to his nephew. Louis on the other hand has been in and out of jail and lives in a hole. When Marcus Hicks dies on stage, VH-1 puts together a big funeral celebration and want "The Real Deal" to perform again. Floyd is all about it, but Louis wants to be left alone until Floyd promises they can split the money they will be paid 60-40. So they set off on an adventure. We find out they broke up over a woman and that they still bicker, but they still both love the music. On their road trip from Los Angeles to New York, they play some small gigs to get themselves in shape and they start to remember why they liked the road so much to begin with. When they start to run out of money, they show up at the door of the woman who broke them up to find her dead and to find her with a 20something year old daughter, Cleo(Sharon Leal). Floyd believes the daughter to be his and Floyd and Louis take her on the road with them. As with the typical road movie, shenanigans abound and lessons must be learned.

My biggest complaint with Soul Men is that I was hoping for more music. The music, mostly funk and soul, really feeds the movie a nice rhythm and pace, but I guess I was hoping for some more of it. Jackson and Mac are furiously funny in their amazing bickering. I am sure much of it was done improv like with these two F bomb geniuses just working off of each other. They have amazing chemistry and are both in great comedic shape. Jackson shows a great comic flair that I have not seen from him really and Mac looks like he was just realizing how great film could be to mine his talents. He even gets some serious moments that show a deeper talent hidden in nonsense movies of the past. They look like they are having a blast on screen and they make you wish you could transport there and enjoy the time with them. It isn't all a hit though. There is a side plot involving Cleo's gangsta rapper wanna-be boy friend that does not work as much as the movie think sit does, as they come back to it 3 times instead of just having it be a solo scene, set aside for a bad black comedian.

The story is predictable sure, but it is funny. It seems like there isn't a real conflict, but bunch of small easy to overcome conflicts, which may make it a bit of a slow movie for some. I can understand that, but these two guys really light up the screen. Jackson with his choice of crazy hair, gets high marks for not being too crazy with the hair in this movie. I believe both men were playing a bit older than they actually are, or maybe Jackson just usually plays younger than he really is, and they both do it well. Sharon Leal exudes a nice calm energy, to counteract the loud manic energy of the two men with whom she shares the screen. The performance scenes are entertaining and the two men do their own singing. Both have passable, nice distinct vocals. Voices that do not soar, but are not bad. They are believable as back up singers who got one big hit and the finale is a nice little ditty.

But mostly, Soul Men is a movie to go and watch and appreciate a man who lived to make us laugh. it is a place to see Bernie Mac int he way he is meant to be watched- funny and foul. In the credits there is a very moving tribute to the man where he tells you what making us laugh meant to him. He was a warm man and a nice performer and it is nice that we have one last R rated comedy by which to remember him. I want to leave anyone who reads this with the best moment in The Original Kings of Comedy, but warn you they language is truly explicit:

When you're listening to one of our conversations you might here the word MOTHER FUCKER about 32 times. Don't be afraid of the word MOTHER FUCKER... Imma break it down to ya... If you're out there this afternoon and you see like 3 or 4 brothers talkin', you might hear a conversation and it goes like this: You seen that MOTHER FUCKIN' Bobby? That MOTHER FUCKER owes me 35 MOTHER FUCKEN dollars! He told me he gone pay my MOTHER FUCKEN money last MOTHER FUCKEN week. I aint seen this MOTHER FUCKER yet! I'm not gonna chase this MOTHER FUCKER for my 35 MOTHER FUCKEN dollars. I called the MOTHER FUCKER four MOTHER FUCKEN times... but the MOTHER FUCKER won't call me back. I called his momma the other MOTHER FUCKEN day... she gonna play like the MOTHER FUCKER wasn't in. I started to cuss her MOTHER FUCKEN ass out, but I don't want no MOTHER FUCKEN trouble. But I'll tell ya one MOTHER FUCKEN thang... the next MOTHER FUCKEN time I see this MOTHER FUCKER... and he ain't got my MOTHER FUCKEN money... I'm gonna bust - his - MOTHER FUCKEN head! And I'm OUT this MOTHA FUCKA!


R.I.P. Mr. Mac.

Final Grade: B-