Soul Men (2008)

I would've rushed right out to see this, but saved it for Jack, who, like me, loved Bernie Mac's TV show. We like to go to 5:00-ish matinees on Fridays, and, for this one, the audience doubled when another couple joined us in the theatre. Yes, I know this movie is not great, and will not be playing much longer on a big screen. But we had a lot of fun with Samuel L. Jackson, the late great Bernie Mac, and his character's green convertible Eldorado named MUTHASHP, after Parliament's 1975 classic soul-funk album, Mothership Connection (Jack said the car was a character in the story). In Roger Ebert's review, he explains why classic cars are used so often in road trip movies. Whenever Sam and Bernie were together, it WAS great. The music was lots of fun, too. Musicians included multiple Grammy award winner John Legend (the pictures of his character's solo career were hilarious!), Sharon Leal (who acted and sang in an episode or two of TV's Boston Public and in Dreamgirls (2006) as the new girl), Isaac Hayes (who died August 10, 2008, the day after Bernie Mac) in a cameo, and others (see the complete cast list here) that I'm sure would be known to musical cognoscenti but not so much to me. Isaac and Bernie both looked pretty skinny, and apparently Bernie was ailing during the shoot, but he had plenty to give on screen, both to the comedy and drama. As the credits began to roll, one side of the screen featured a tribute mostly to Bernie and some to Isaac (so I don't need to alert you to stay), followed by Isaac's down-tempo rendition of "Never Can Say Goodbye." Bernie & Sam can sing their own numbers on the soundtrack album (and Sam's got some fancy footwork), but I'm disappointed that the Stanley Clarke (with George Duke and others) score is not (yet?) available.