Soul Men
Headline: ** Lost Souls, Dirty Old Men **
Title: SOUL MEN
Quality: * * Acceptability: -4
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: VV
Sex: SSS
Nudity: NN
RATING: R
RELEASE: November 7, 2008
TIME: 100 minutes
STARRING: Samuel L. Jackson, Bernie Mac, Sharon Lea, Jennifer Coolidge, Adam Herschman, and Isaac Hayes
DIRECTOR: Malcolm D. Lee
PRODUCERS: David T. Friendly, Steven Greener and Charles Castaldi
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein and Mark McNair
WRITERS: Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone
BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A
DISTRIBUTOR: Dimension Films/MGM
CONTENT: (HH, LLL, VV, SSS, NN, AA, DD, MMM) Strong humanist worldview; excessive foul language includes at least 200 obscenities (including many "f" words) and 10 mostly strong profanities; strong violence includes firing of a gun at a tire and into open space, trashing of a hotel room during a fight between the two main characters, beating up and humiliating the boyfriend of the daughter of one of the main characters, and breaking out of jail while pointing a gun at a policeman; very strong sexual content includes sexual promiscuity encouraged including a lewd scene implying oral sex between a black man and a white woman, a white mother and daughter fornicate with the two main black characters, two black men sleep in the same bed, numerous jokes about Viagra, one of the main characters commits adultery with his best friend's wife and has a child out of wedlock with her, pornographic magazines in the trunk of a car, and a brief but explicit shot of several semi-naked white women implying a group sexual encounter with one of the black men; images of rear and upper female nudity, plus rear male nudity and female cleavage; beer and hard alcohol drinking, several scenes in bars with active drinking, plus one of the main characters is an alcoholic; drug references includes marijuana use, selling illegal drugs is shown in a negative light; lying to cover one's reputation, disrespect for police and authorities, jail time both implied and a scene of both main characters incarcerated, bad role models including disrespectful younger musicians making fun of the age of the two main characters, stealing money from a parent's bank account, and negative parental role model of one of the main characters committing adultery with his best friend's wife, abandoning her, and never meeting his daughter from the union until late in life.
GENRE: Musical Comedy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Adults
Please address your comments to:
Harry E. Sloan, Chairman/CEO
Clark Woods, President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution
MGM Studios Inc. (Partially owned by Sony Corporation of America)
10250 Constellation Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 900067
Phone: (310) 449-3000; Fax: (310) 449-8819
Website: www.mgm.com
SUMMARY: SOUL MEN is the story of two musical has-beens in search of adventure and reconciliation in their relationship after being estranged for 20 years. SOUL MEN is "sold-out" to the world of sleaze and illicit sexuality; instead of entertaining and uplifting, its jokes and scenarios are crude and shamelessly shameful.
IN BRIEF:
SOUL MEN is the story of two former singing sensations who travel the country together, heading for the memorial concert of their former partners. The two men, who were estranged for 20 years, bicker and quarrel their way across country, encountering mishaps, a long-lost daughter, and a shaky reconciliation. They get into jam after jam, all laced with constant foul language, vulgarity and graphic sex. To get to the memorial concert at the Apollo Theater, one has to break the other out of jail for violating his parole.
SOUL MEN is a spotty comedy adventure movie that strives to be funny but instead repulses with its over the top profanity and lewdness. The musical scenes are well-staged with toe-tapping, smooth performances by the aging leads. The predictable direction and unnecessary and excessive foul language mar what could have been a funny, entertaining comedy. It is a sad swan song for Bernie Mac, who passed away after the completion of the film. SOUL MEN is "sold-out" to the world of sleaze and illicit sexuality. Instead of entertaining and uplifting, its jokes and foul language are crude, abhorrent and shamelessly shameful.
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine. For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.
