''Soul Men'' is a 2008 American

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Malcolm D. Lee, and starring

Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...

Bernie Mac Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008), better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American comedian and actor. Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined fell ...

Sharon Leal Sharon Ann Leal is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles in movies such as ''Dreamgirls'', '' This Christmas'', '' Why Did I Get Married?'', ''Why Did I Get Married Too?'' and her roles on the television shows '' Legacy'', '' ...

and

Sean Hayes Sean Patrick Hayes (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He is best known for playing Jack McFarland on the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award, four SAG Awards, and one American Com ...

, released on November 7, 2008. It was one of three Bernie Mac films that were released after his death (and was actually released on the same date as another posthumous film, '' Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa''). Bernie Mac and

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...

died in unrelated circumstances on August 9 and 10, 2008, respectively. Director Lee said the film was heavily re-edited to soften the tone of the film, as a tribute to the two actors. It is the last

Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America prior ...

film to be distributed by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

Plot

Two former backup

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

singers, Louis Hinds and Floyd Henderson, who have not spoken to each other in 30 years since their band ended, reluctantly agree to travel across the country together for a reunion concert to honor their recently deceased band member and

lead singer The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

, Marcus Hooks.

Cast

as Louis Hinds *

as Floyd Henderson *

as Cleo Whitfield *

as Danny Epstein *

Affion Crockett Affion Crockett (born August 12, 1974) is an American actor and comedian. Early life Crockett was raised in Germany and Fayetteville, North Carolina. Career Crockett appeared in HBO's ''Def Comedy Jam'' in 1996, demonstrating his impression ...

as Lester "The Court Jester" *Adam Herschman as Phillip * Fatso-Fasano as Pay-Pay *

Jackie Long Jackie Long (born October 23, 1981) is an American television and film actor, writer, musician, director and producer. He is also a voice actor for '' Grand Theft Auto V''. Filmography Film Television Video games External links * * {{ ...

as Zig-Zag *

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...

as Marcus Hooks *

Jennifer Coolidge Jennifer Audrey Coolidge (born August 28, 1961) is an American actress known for her roles in comedic film and television particularly in American Pie (series), ''American Pie'' film series (1999–2012), Legally Blonde (franchise), ''Legally Bl ...

as Rosalee *

as himself *

Mike Epps Michael Elliot Epps (born November 18, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He played Day-Day Jones in ''Next Friday'' and its sequel, ''Friday After Next'', and also appeared in ''The Hangover'' and ''The Hangover Part III'' as "Bla ...

as Duane Henderson *

Millie Jackson Mildred Virginia Jackson (born July 15, 1944) is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and Soul music, soul recording artist. Beginning her career in the early 1960s, three of Jackson's albums have been certified Music recording certification, gold ...

as Floyd's ex Claudette *

Sara Erikson Sara Erikson is an American television and film actress. Career Erikson is known for her recurring role as Robyn Marquette, Vince's scheming ex-girlfriend and co-worker in '' What I Like About You'', and various characters in the Jeff Foxwor ...

as Chastity * Vanessa del Rio as Full Figured Neighbor *

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing bas ...

as The Narrator (voice)

Production

Music

The score for the film was composed by

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...

. The song, "I'm Your Puppet" , which serves as the fictional trio's 1969 hit single, was actually a hit for

James & Bobby Purify James & Bobby Purify were an R&B singing duo, whose biggest hits were "I'm Your Puppet" in 1966, which reached number six in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and in a re-recorded version number 12 in the UK Singles Chart (in May 1976), and ...

in 1966. The official soundtrack was released November 4, 2008 by

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was ...

, and features music by

Sharon Jones Sharon Lafaye Jones (May 4, 1956 – November 18, 2016) was an American soul and funk singer. She was the lead singer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, a soul and funk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Jones experienced breakthrough succe ...

and the Dap Kings, and others.

Reception

''Soul Men'' received generally mixed reviews from film critics. Based on 98 reviews,

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported that 46% of critics gave the film a positive review stating that "''Soul Men'' features lively performances from

and

, and some hilarious moments, but ultimately suffers from an unoriginal script."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, another review aggregator, reported that critics gave the film an average score of 49/100, based on 23 reviews. The film opened at #6 with $5,000,000 behind ''

Zack and Miri Make a Porno ''Zack and Miri Make a Porno'' (also known simply as ''Zack and Miri'') is a 2008 American sex comedy film written, directed and edited by Kevin Smith and starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks. It was released on October 31, 2008. Plot Zack B ...

'', ''

Changeling A changeling, also historically referred to as an auf or oaf, is a human-like creature found in folklore throughout Europe. A changeling was believed to be a fairy that had been left in place of a human (typically a child) stolen by other fairi ...

'', '' High School Musical 3: Senior Year'', '' Role Models'', and '' Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'' (which, coincidentally, Mac was also in; both films are dedicated in his memory). At the conclusion of its domestic theatrical run on February 5, 2009, the film's gross was $12,082,391. Director Malcolm D. Lee said the movie was a failure because "nobody gave a shit about two old R&B singers."

Home media

The film was released on DVD on February 10, 2009 and by the 5th week, about 483,360 units have been sold, bringing in $9,443,721 in revenue. This does not include

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

sales.

References

External links

* * * {{Malcolm D. Lee 2008 films 2000s musical comedy films American musical comedy films Dimension Films films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films The Weinstein Company films 2000s English-language films Films scored by Stanley Clarke Films about singers Films directed by Malcolm D. Lee Films set in Manhattan Films set in Memphis, Tennessee Films set in 2008 2000s road movies American road movies African-American films 2008 comedy films 2000s American films