★ 6 / 10
**Soul Man** Had heard a bit about this
Dan_Tebasco
**Soul Man** Had heard a bit about this movie before I saw it, many times refered to as being racist. In fact COMPLEX MAGAZINE listed it as number 4 on a 'most…
**Soul Man**
Had heard a bit about this movie before I saw it, many times refered to as being racist. In fact COMPLEX MAGAZINE listed it as number 4 on a 'most racist movies' list they made.
Watching it, I must say it's a whole lot less racist than I expected it to be. In fact I wouldn't call it racist at all.
It's about a white guy who gets into Harvard but can't afford to go there so he looks for scholarships that he can take but the only one applicable to him is one designed for African Americans. So he fakes being black (with full blackface makeover and a 80's jerrycurl to match) and gets it.
There is of course a stigma around blackfaces stemming from early 20th century films where white people would dress up as black people and make fun of them and make them look stupid etc.
But to say that this movie is racist for that reason alone is very simpleminded. Cause even though the guy does put on a blackface, there is not a malicious intent behind it. And he does learn a thing or two about racism himself as the movie progresses.
I would probably argue that if anything it's more racist towards whites and perhaps a general white perception of blackness (at least of the time) than it is of blacks. But even that would be a bit of a stretch.
Anyways slightly overthinking it here perhaps, as it is in fact not a too serious movie but a comedy. And as a comedy, albeit it has a bit of a rough start it works pretty good. It's no masterpiece or anything and it could have done with some editing cutting it down by 15-20 minutes or so. But overall a decent and fairly harmless watch that does manage to convey a pretty good message while also gathering up some big laughs ocassionally.
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★ 5 / 10
Seems like they rushed out the script and left out the soul.
mark.waltz
While there are definitely some very funny moments in this well-meaning social comedy, it fails in 1986 terms, not completely, and the desperation is very…
While there are definitely some very funny moments in this well-meaning social comedy, it fails in 1986 terms, not completely, and the desperation is very apparent in 2021. C. Thomas Howell looks more like a cheap store mannequin in alleged tanning pills as he's overdosed on to look black so he can get a scholarship when his father (James B. Sikking) reveals that he can't afford to send him to Harvard Law School. But once there, he makes himself look like an absolute fool by trying to act the opposite of who he is, and when he gets into trouble, it's difficult to sympathize with him even from the perspective that if he was indeed black, he would be receiving unfair treatment.
When he makes an absolute fool out of himself with single mom Rae Dawn Chong, he comes to realize that he has to try to be more natural, and finds out that some of the white female students are fetishists, as are their rich mothers. That becomes very clear when he is invited over for dinner by Melora Hardin and the audience sees her mother having lustful fantasies while her father, Leslie Nielsen (who owns his apartment building) has racist thoughts and is furious over him seeing his daughter. Julia Louise Dreyfus has a small role as a rather obnoxious student, and her scenes are best dealt with by hitting the fast forward button.
A recurring scene in the film has white male Harvard students telling racist jokes and Howell looking at them and disgust and getting a fake apology, basically responding no problem. It's a thoughtful series of scenes that does help alleviate some of the uncomfortability of Howell's disguise that doesn't really work. He's also arrested for driving his own car, and of course his license has a picture of a white man, so he ends up in prison where he is beaten up for no real reason.
It's a shame that this film fails to work because it certainly is well-meaning. But good intentions are, as you know, a pathway to somewhere nobody wants to go, and what could have exposed bigotry doesn't fully work. Still, it does have the ability to show the ridiculousness of racism, and even if you don't really get that from the script, the thought process after watching the film (or during) can really get that process started. One thing that they got right is that a good percentage of the white characters in this film end up being either ridiculously bigoted or outlandishly liberal and pandering, like an eighties version of Maude.
To add authority to the film, veteran stage actor James Earl Jones plays a Harvard law professor and is strong and no nonsense and strict. It's obvious that most of his students respect him for who he is but he too would face systematic racism if he didn't have the position that he does, and his humanity in dealing with aiding Howell in adjusting is admirable and makes his character more likable. Nielsen is far from his Frank Drebbin role here, a complete jerk.
This film does succeed in making you wonder how much things have really changed, if at all, and the one thing you do see happening is that Howell's character will go from being a real jerk to being enlightened in a way that brings out the hidden humanity deep inside him. I just wish the makeup that they used didn't make Howell look so plastic, but regardless of who they cast, this was bound to create controversy.
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People cr@p on this, but not on 'White Chicks' (2004) from the Wayans brothers... Typical leftist hypocrites. THEY ARE COMEDIES! Lighten up Francis!