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Soul Men
By: Nate Boss, 2.11.2008
The Movie Itself:
I’ve seen it be said before on Blu-ray reviews, and thought it was cliche to hear the line “if it weren’t for this job, I would have never encountered this title....”, but I finally had a similar experience. While the title that was a revelation for me wasn’t a back catalog title forgotten over the years, it is still one that I was hesitant over, as I was curious about it due to the circumstances involving the actors, but not curious enough to convince me to grab it due to the glut of titles hitting recently, and the budget crunches we all must be in. I can say now, that the time I spent watching Soul Men was one of the greater reasons why I’m thankful to have the opportunity to cover these titles.
Louis Hinds (Samuel L. Jackson) and Floyd Henderson (Bernie Mac) were a pair of back-up singers to Marcus Hooks (John Legend), who found great success after his time with the duo, who recently passed. Their career as a group sans Hooks was a failure, forcing each to find lives outside the music business. Floyd’s life has taken the soft and easy route, while Louis has found nothing but trouble. The two aren’t on speaking terms, as Floyd slept with, and eventually married, Louis’s love. The thought of performing at Hooks’ tribute concert has Floyd and Louis back together, but due to Loius’s refusal to fly, they go on the road to break off the rust of 20 years of music retirement, and to possibly bridge their differences.
The story does sound a bit much like a generic buddy road-trip comedy (and it is), but the performances lift the title above the muck. Jackson and Mac completely become their characters, and, like other recent musical feature films, recorded their own voices for the film. The tribulations the odd pair encounter range from flat out stupid, to sheer hilarity, including a sex scene with Jennifer Coolidge that was hilarious from it’s start to the finish of the scene. The film is predictable, both in it’s joke set-ups, and what plot developments are to happen, but despite that, the film was still a fun ride.
The first portion of the credits contains a bit of Bernie Mac performing comedy for the extras, and talking about his career(s). There is also a small portion with Isaac Hayes, as well. Soul Men was dedicated to both performers, who both passed shortly after making the film, within a day of each other. There is also a bit in the extras to Soul Men about these two performers, but just as a fellow Mac film (Bad Santa) had a dedication (John Ritter), it was good to see these men get theirs.
Rating: 7/10
 For once, I don’t have a smarmy caption. The cast.
The Presentation:
Soul Men comes to Blu-ray with a great looking, and sounding, presentation that should please fans for sure. The picture is full of color, ranging from bleak, damp, and dark shots, to bright, colorful, motion filled moments that show much resolution. The skin tones look authentic, with great detail, especially on Jackson’s character, as he has much “character” in his face. The high definition presentation made some scenes look awkward, such as the scenes cruising in the “mothership”, as the loop/stock footage background looked very subpar compared to the foreground with Jackson and Mac. The detail was high, with Mac’s lightly frizzed/curly hair having enormous detail, along with Jackson’s stringy, graying mane having individual strands just jump off the screen. The black levels weren’t very strong, as some detail was lost when a character’s hair was alongside a darker background.
The audio for Soul Men is presented with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track that is certainly appealing to the ears. Music deluges every speaker constantly. Surround use is high, with crowd scenes applauding filling every speaker, with some great discrete effects hitting the rears with a fairly high regularity. The sound has real depth, though, as some common sounds, such as the cut of a golf club in an early introductory scene, or Mac hitting the ground after having his lights punched out, have amazing crisp, rich emphasis. The only downside of the audio mix is that the bass felt a bit low, especially for a soundtrack with so much soul, and the detail heard in Jackson’s awful singing voice. He almost puts Pierce Brosnan’s “performance” in Mama Mia! to shame, just almost.
Rating: 8/10
 Mac and Jackson bust a move
The Extras:
Commentary with Director Malcolm Lee and writers Matt Stone and Rob Ramsey
First off, no, this is not the South Park Matt Stone, different cat altogether. This commentary is pretty rapid fire, though it isn’t very deep in it’s analyzation, more a discussion while watching the film. They are lively and do enjoy the result of their work, though, if that counts.
The Soul Men: Bernie Mac and Samuel Jackson (9 min)
A behind the scenes look at the two main actors in the film, how they know each other, their comments about each other, and so on. Fairly bland.
The Cast of Soul Men (7 min)
There’s other actors in the film, and this featurette hits on the non-Jackson, non-Mac actors/singers. Very much EPK.
Director Malcolm Lee (3 min)
There’s no film without the director, right? This feature looks at Lee’s contributions to the film, told through the producers and actors comments.
A Tribute to Bernie Mac (7 min)
This feature acts more as a look at Mac on Soul Men, told through the fellow actors, rather than a tribute. I had high hopes for this one being a bit more retrospective and deep with people expressing feelings about his passing, oh wells.
A Tribute to Isaac Hayes (4 min)
Black Moses!
Just like the Mac “tribute”, this featurette is more a look at the man, rather than a tribute to his passing and his works in his lifetime.
Boogie Ain’t Nuttin’: Behind-The Scenes (2 min)
A look at the actors doing the recordings for the film. I always enjoy it when actors perform the music they lip synch to in a film, so the fact these actors did their own work (despite sounding a bit like a burlap sack full of kittens drowning in a river) is something I respect.
Bernie Mac at the Apollo (4 min)
A bit of this footage was seen at the end of the film in the credits, in the Mac/Hayes dedication. Mac is on stage entertaining the extras in the audience for the Apollo finale scene while the crew set up their equipment.
Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
The theatrical trailer for the film.
Rating: 5/10
Overall:
Soul Men shows soul, plain and simple, and utterly cliche, but there is no better way to put it. Jackson and Mac put out a tremendous effort, in a film full of humor, music, and a slight bit of drama. The Blu-ray boasts quality video and audio qualities, so it’s hard to find fault in this release. Give it a rent, at least, as you may be pleasantly surprised.
Rating: 7/10
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