Last Bernie Mac Film A Juvenile, Stereotypical Flop

By Broadside Correspondent Prasiddha Gustanto

Stand-up comedian and actor Bernie Mac passed away this August. Before he died, he left behind several finished works. Among them is Soul Men, a comedy movie about two has-been soul singers, Henderson and Hinds, played by Mac and Samuel L. Jackson, respectively. In it, they reunite and go on a cross-country road trip to do one last performance as a tribute for their recently deceased band-mate Marcus Hooks, played by John Legend.

One might have hoped that Mac’s latest works would receive the same type of adoration and attention that Heath Ledger got as The Joker in The Dark Knight before his own untimely death. Aside from being called a masterpiece, The Dark Knight was also noted for Ledger’s widely praised performance as the story’s main antagonist. As a fan of Mac myself, I was hoping that this movie would be his ‘Heath Ledger Act,’ in that this posthumously released work would establish Mac as a talented actor who died before he could get the recognition he deserved. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Soul Men.

We have the usual suspects playing the usual roles. There is Jennifer Coolidge of American Pie fame, playing a promiscuous MILF and Adam Herschman, doing the stereotypical nerdy fat Jewish sidekick like he did in Accepted. One might also put Jackson in this category, because lately, he has been going for the roles of rather cranky, geriatric and anti-social hobos—such as his role in Black Snake Moan. Bernie Mac himself isn’t really doing anything different by playing soul singer Floyd Henderson. It is still essentially the same comedic, slap-stick type role that he has been doing for his entire career. All the actors play their usual parts; none of them branch out.

Stylistically, the feel of this movie reminds me of what director McG did for the Charlie's Angels franchise. Director Malcolm Lee gives this movie a glossy and polished look.

There are moments when the movie feels like an MTV music video, with all the extremely fast cuts, bright colors and unusually clean landscapes. All of this adds up to a very unrealistic movie look that feels plastic and superficial. There’s even a scene where Jackson and Mac are driving across a Grand Canyon-esque area which is clearly just a green screen background.

The entire movie is a collage of stupid and vulgar slapstick jokes about old men, erections and Viagra. None of the characters seem to have any shred of wisdom or intelligence and the way this movie was directed gave me the impression that it is being aimed at a young, MTV-generation type audience. This movie is marketed towards young teenagers looking for new “burn” jokes to add to their list. I can also see people coming out of this movie with brand new sexual puns and innuendos. One such, being that “thou shalt not dig for diamonds in another brother’s mine.” This elegant little joke, of course, refers to how one shouldn’t have affairs with another man’s wife. Crude? Yes. Funny? Not really. Giggle-material, only if you are a prepubescent boy.

Overall, there is nothing praiseworthy about this movie. It uses a lot of recycled concepts and troupes that are common in buddy road trip stories. It offers crude, dumb and vulgar jokes, and is a boring and superficial look into the lives of washed-up celebrity seniors. It was a waste of my time, and it certainly will most likely be a waste of your time too.