If there's an after-life, here's hoping Bernie Mac gets a crack at better scripts the next time around.
That Soul Men -- featuring the late comic in his final starring role -- proves an entertaining-enough diversion has less to do with the pedestrian screenplay and direction than the high-wattage, crowd-pleasing showmanship of Mac and co-star Samuel L. Jackson.
They play two washed-up R&B crooners who grudgingly reunite. Their chemistry is the best reason -- on second thought, the only reason -- to see what could less-than-charitably be described as "Grumpy Old Soul Singers."
Jackson and Mac star as Louis and Floyd, two-thirds of a Temptations-esque group that topped the pop charts in the 1960s and 1970s. When their lead singer Marcus (John Legend) bolted to go solo in the 1980s, however, that left his backup crooners in the lurch: eking out limited success as a duo that eventually disintegrated over a woman.
An opening-credits montage skillfully dispatches with the decades-old backstory: after they broke up, Floyd opened a car wash and became a success in business.
Post-fame life for Lloyd, though, didn't turn out nearly as well -- with years of addiction, run-ins with the law and jail time.
Now in their 60s, Floyd is trying to adjust to the much slower pace of retired life while Louis is broke and embittered.
A chance for renewal arrives when Marcus dies and they're recruited to perform at New York's Apollo Theatre in honour of their former front-man. For Floyd, the fast-talking pitchman and born entertainer who longs to recapture the excitement of his youth, it's a slam-dunk.
He even manages to corral Louis -- with the promise of a big payday -- to sign on, despite the lingering hostilities between the two.
Because Louis has a fear of flying -- and insists on driving from L.A. -- the movie from here takes the shape of a standard-issue episodic road trip.
Speeding across state lines, the former friends bicker, commiserate about past glories, play a few impromptu gigs at country bars and eventually meet Cleo (Sharon Leal), whose mother was the woman who split up Floyd and Louis.
In addition to Leal, supporting players include Affion Crockett as her abusive boyfriend, Adam Herschman as an ebullient record-label intern, and the late Isaac Hayes as himself. Throughout, director Malcolm D. Lee (Spike's cousin) takes few detours, hitting only the odd comedic high note, as when Floyd hooks up with an aging groupie (a hilarious Jennifer Coolidge).
Fittingly, a closing-credits coda offers a tribute to Mac, showing outtakes of him entertaining extras and crew members and reminding moviegoers -- whatever they think of Soul Men -- that his talent will be missed.
(This film is rated 18-A)
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