Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Pluskylang Great Film overall

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

mrc5555 This movie could have been really good. This movie should have been really good. Instead, it was a waste of the considerable talents of both Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac.This movie has the same premise as The Sunshine Boys and did start off very promising. The problem with it comes in the almost non-stop crude comedy bits that really don't add anything to the story.I will say that the pay-off are the parts where the two leads perform as their characters. They did an excellent job in that part of the role, but the writing of the rest of the movie just didn't bring out any of their talents.I did get a kick out of the homage to The Blues Brothers near the end of the movie.

BlackshirtJM "Soul Men" is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. The chemistry between Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson could not have been planned better. I was left wondering if they had indeed known each other in real life for thirty-plus years. Admittedly, I am a Bernie fan; his TV show was the best sitcom on the air. Mac's habit of addressing "America" was fresh and highly entertaining.There are some elements of "Soul Men" that reminded me of the older movie, "The Blues Brothers". Aging musicians, one an ex-con, looking to put the old band back together and taking a cross-country road trip in the process all conspired to make the analogy inevitable. But Soul Men has a very different pathos and a richer theme. The language at times is uncomfortably rough, but hey; these are two guys, and the roughness is never gratuitous.There are many moments that were so uproariously funny, I can't recall the last time I have laughed so hard. There are comedians, very successful ones, that can become somewhat grating after a very short time. Not so Bernie Mac. Bernie is so easy to relate to, he makes the commonplace seem like a new adventure. A new, very funny adventure. Toothless barflies, AARP, a crooked nephew, the entertainment industry, aging, paternity confusion, and an interesting portrayal of gangster rap are all fair targets in this unexpectedly great movie. The pacing is fast and steady, and while the plot is a little derivative, Bernie Mac and Samuel L Jackson make it work wonderfully.The only faults I found in this movie mainly had to do with continuity. Nit pickers will have a field day. But for people like me, people who like decent movies and like Bernie Mac and Samuel Jackson, these puny things matter not.This is not family entertainment. Leave the kids, the prudes, and the self-righteous at home. If you enjoy the comedy styling of Bernie Mac, and you enjoy A-list performers like Samuel L. Jackson, you are going to have a great time.

GoneWithTheTwins Not a hint of originality can be found in this lifeless tribute to music and old school mayhem. Soul Men features decent chemistry between funny-man Bernie Mac and straight-man Samuel L. Jackson, but they're both characters we've seen before, played identically by these same two actors. As a comedy the laughs are practically nonexistent, and as an ode to true soul men the film flounders in predictability and a disappointing over-dependency for staying between the lines (despite familiar foul-mouthed soliloquies by both leading men). In the early 70s, soul group Marcus Hooks and the Real Deal become extremely popular and sell over six million records. But by 1977 Hooks recognizes his superior talents and decides to go solo – leaving his partners Floyd Henderson (Bernie Mac) and Louis Hinds (Samuel L. Jackson) to struggle with the loss of stardom well into their old age.Floyd is now retired and discouraged with his mundane life. When Marcus Hooks dies, Floyd is approached by VH1 to reunite with Louis to do a tribute song at Hooks' exuberant Apollo Theater funeral. Bitter and cranky, especially at the memory of Floyd's affair with his wife, Louis is eventually convinced to journey cross-country with Henderson for the promise of money attached to their big performance. During the road trip the duo has the opportunity to brush up on their singing (having been absent from the spotlight for 30 years), confront unexpected reunions with the past, and initiate run-ins with the law – but nothing will stop their quest to get back in the spotlight. Going straight for the lewd, gross-out laughter, the first 10 minutes of the movie surrounds us in awkward sexual escapades and a galling rectal examination. Shortly thereafter the jokes get more repetitive, doubling up on the mishandling-of-firearms routine, more animalistic bedroom hanky-panky (including the trailer's notorious "velveteen rub"), and bad language galore. The humor itself is not geared toward a particular demographic, despite the clear target audience for the ensemble cast, so it is most disappointing to find such timeworn comedy gimmicks continually bombarding the screen. Stereotyped characters, unnecessary supporting roles, and recycled life lessons also surface and add to the unoriginality of Soul Men. It's part road movie and mainly a buddy film, but what really strikes a chord on the string of ineffectiveness is the redundancy and lack of zest. The characters are vinegary even when they're trying to have fun, and the farcical situations the duo finds themselves in are all stolen from other comedies, similarly fashioned around the importance of friends. Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac are enjoyable actors, but the material in Soul Men is as generic as it gets.Mike Massie

redmms5 I just returned from seeing "Soul Men". I laughed so hard. Samuel L Jackson is such a versatile actor. I love him in so many movies. Sam and Bernie played well off each other. And please stay for the credits because there is some scenes of Bernie being interviewed and doing his comedy act. He uses the f word in his act.It was very funny seeing Sam in corn rows and with the gray in them. That alone is worth seeing.It was very nice that they dedicated the movie to Bernie Mac and Issac Hayes who died one day apart from each other. They will both be missed.Samuel keep on making these wonderful movies.