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'Soul Men' A Stale Swan Song For Mac

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By CHRISTY LEMIRE

The Associated Press

Published: November 6, 2008

The stale buddy road-trip movie "Soul Men" will be remembered mainly as the untimely swan song of Bernie Mac, the comic great who died in August at just 50.

When it's about Mac and Samuel L. Jackson, co-starring as former band mates bickering over decades of pent-up resentments, "Soul Men" has a fiercely raunchy, buoyant energy about it. Trouble is, the movie from director Malcolm Lee ("Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins") and screenwriters Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone crams in myriad needless subplots - which only draws attention to how thin the original story really is.

Mac and Jackson bounce off each other with expert timing and wild-eyed volatility. When they're on, the movie is on. Mac's Floyd Henderson and Jackson's Louis Hinds were one-time backup singers to Marcus Hooks (John Legend), and the three were a popular Motown-style group until Marcus went solo.

Louis and Floyd stuck it out as a duo through the 1970s until record sales dropped and they fell in love with the same woman, which tore them apart. Floyd went on to a successful car wash business. Louis, meanwhile, amassed a criminal record, read tons of philosophy during his time behind bars and now lives in squalor.

With the announcement of Marcus' death, the two must reunite for a tribute concert at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and the first time they see each other again at Louis' Los Angeles hovel crackles with witty, verbose anger. (It's probably the only great scene the movie has to offer.) Naturally, they must travel across the country in a bright green, 1971 Cadillac El Dorado because flying wouldn't eat up enough time.

The duo seem to be having a goofy good time harmonizing and busting out old-school dance moves, and the fact they can't sing all that well makes the performances amusingly self-effacing. And yet, just when "Soul Men" generates some good will, it undermines itself with lame, hackneyed old-man gags involving prostate exams, hip replacement surgery and Viagra.

Floyd and Louis also conveniently run into Cleo ( Sharon Leal), the grown-up daughter of Odetta, the woman they both loved. This sets up a paternity mystery that's pretty easy to figure out from the start.

MOVIE REVIEW

Soul Men **

MOVIE BOARD RATING: R; pervasive profanity and sexual content including nudity

STARS: Bernie Mac, Samuel L. Jackson, Sharon Leal

DIRECTOR: Malcolm Lee

LOCATION: See movie times, Page 9, for local show times.

PLOT SUMMARY: Two former back-up soul singers who hate each other reunite on a road trip to a final performance

RUNNING TIME: 103 minutes

ON THE WEB: www.soul men-movie.com

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