Soul Man (1986)

Loads of fun, entertaining from start to finish (don't over-think the plot, characters and so on, just enjoy it, PC or not). Thomas C. Howell plays it excellent, as does Arey Gross. And James Earl Jones is, as always, in a league of his own! Even Julia Dreyfuss makes a memorable performance and Rae Dawn Chong also holds her own as well. Soul man has that special some-some that makes a movie great; A small ensemble of characters, who were eloquently cast, a straight forward story and a the right mix of comic relief. So go ahead and enjoy, you won't regret it. Keeps getting better and better every time round. Mark Watson - come on down!" :)

Fmovies: This is a '87 comedy, I like much better, than I thought I would. The comedy chooses to take it's own path, on it's important subject, making for a much more entertaining one, where drama's thrown in too, with makes it one, with a few flavors, where a moment never dulls in this. It is a very unjustly criticized film, although as Tommy Howell, darkening his skin, he would be made out for an Indian, not a real black man, first off the bat. Howell's likable performance, is that of a rich kid, who's dream is to go to Harvard Law, only his parent's cut off his tuition, so he has to look for sources, elsewhere, where he finally resorts to going black and getting down. The film takes a few jabs at black people, and Tommy Howe'll's rendition of Prince and Stevie Wonder are priceless. This is a talented actor, a kid ahead of his talent. He falls for a black woman (Rae Dawn Chong in a really good mature performance) where the unexpected, lighter romantic moments, add more layers to it's originality,and work beautifully. He also beds a long haired hottie (Melora Hardin) her rich father played here, by would you believe Leslie Nielsen, who later punches Howell one later, in the gulliver. The movie takes digs too at basketballers, Howell quite popular on the team in one sense, you would say. Ayre Gross was fun as Howell's best friend, who accompanies him to the campus. The court defending scene, near the end, after Howell was busted was a very smart idea, as others in this smartly written script. Okay yes, it could of been taken as a more serious comedy, but it wouldn't be as entertaining, as this is a comedy that stands on it's own, and was a good opening to let in the near year that was '87. Still today, it'll be, as much fun as it was, back then. That title soundtrack rocks too, like many other things in this entertaining, smartly approached, set out film. Highly recommended.

I remember watching Soul Man about twelve years ago when it was first aired on TV. Crazy, hilarious, sarcastic, emotional; what the hell I could go on forever describing this film.

This is the only film besides "The Outsiders" that C. Thomas Howell played a dual role of himself and a black student impersona. Okay I can agree with some comments that movie began to over step it's bounderies with the way African American culture was dealt with, but at the smae time I felt that it was stabalized with the humour adding that extra touch rather than people taking it more "Politically correct" way.

James Earl Jones and Rae Dawn Chong both did fabulous jobs as there acting really help give their characters' some edge that made it somewhat convincing.

Overall a brilliant film. If you can try to avoid the fact that it might be cliched of dealing with racial differences in a light hearted manner. Remember this is a comedy and not something to take "SERIOUSLY".

Another quality film from the 80's to add to the hitlist.

Soul Man fmovies. its a shame that such an exceptional movie has got an abysmally low rating of less than 5..even after more than 3500 reviews! everything is almost perfect about this picture: casting, story, direction, acting, dialogues, music, overt & subtle social references, humour,thought & intelligence as well as intellectual depth, sense of history...everything. the characters were very endearing even though some were a bit stereotypical but not off the mark and cinematic liberty is important,isn't it! the climax was a bit simplistic and short but still full marks for pulling it off without hiccups.its sad too that such movies are not being made these days. full 10 out of 10 for such a great thinking movie as well as an entertainer!!

This movie gets a bad rap but it's actually quite interesting in its portrayal stereotypes and racism. It's sad that it was made because there shouldn't be such stereotypes and racism in society. But the movie goes about having a laugh with it all while still showing the ignorance in people. C. Thomas Howell used to be able to act back then and he does a great job. There is fine acting all around particularly from James Earl Jones and Rae Dawn Chong. On the unfortunate side, Leslie Nielson was terribly underused and so out of character as a racist piece of crap. In the end, right prevails over wrong, we have a few laughs, and ponder the idiocy of racism.

6.1 / 10 stars

--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

I remember watching this in my early teens, and thinking it was one of the funniest films that I had seen. Watching it again over 10 years later, its still pretty funny. In the age of political correctness it probably has quite poor taste, but thats not its intention. Its a lightweight comedy, and thats the way it should be taken. There are a few moments where a message and moral does come through, especially in the later half of the film. This adds to the films charm, as well as giving people a fairly superficial albeit correct notion of the social struggle faced by some races. C Thomas Howell was very good in this film, and I feel that its a shame that he does not make that many feature films these days- he seems to appear a lot in direct to video films. It was also interesting to watch Julia Louis-Dreyfuss in her very pre-Seinfeld days, before she became Elaine. This really is a funny film, very unbelievable but heaps better than the lame comedies that the big studios are serving up these days.