Soul Men

WEINSTEIN/GENIUS
Street: Feb. 3
Prebook: now
> Star power of Mac and Jackson trumps warmed-over gags and situations.

An African-American Sunshine Boys (with a little Grumpy Old Men thrown in for good measure), Soul Men offers a few good musical numbers and palpable chemistry between co-stars Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson. The leads play Motown-era vocalists approached by MTV to reunite for a memorial concert 25 years after dissolving their partnership. Deciding to tune up their old act in small venues, the perpetually squabbling singers hit the road with a recently deceased girlfriend’s adult daughter (Sharon Leal), who just might be the offspring of one of them. The mostly age-related jokes are fun but corny, the road-trip situations are blandly predictable, and a sexual encounter between Mac’s character and a middle-age groupie (Jennifer Coolidge) is just plain creepy. But Soul Men is still passable entertainment, nonetheless.

Shelf Talk: It’s sad that Soul Men was the last film completed by both the late Bernie Mac and R&B legend Isaac Hayes (who cameos as himself), but these posthumous performances could very well enhance business. The popularity of co-stars Mac and Jackson should help, especially with the latter’s recent American Cinematheque Lifetime Achievement Award win and the resultant publicity still fresh in consumer memory.