Storyline
Soul Man is a comedy film made in 1986 about a man who undergoes racial transformation with pills to qualify for an African-American-only scholarship at Harvard Law School. It stars C. Thomas Howell, Rae Dawn Chong, Arye Gross, James Earl Jones, Leslie Nielsen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Directors
Cast
Trailer
Reviews
90
This social farce is excellently written, fast paced and intelligently directed. Film is hilarious throughout.
80
It has a breezy, unapologetic manner. And it also happens to be funny, which goes a long way toward making up for any underlying obtuseness or insensitivity.
50
There are some good moments in SOUL MAN, but Gross steals the picture; he has the best lines and makes the most of them.
40
Empire
Howell makes the least convincing black guy ever, his eventual contrition feels hollow and forced — much like the laughs.
38
Miami Herald
At its heart, however, Soul Man is a one-gag story propelled by sitcom material; there are times you'd swear you were watching Lucy. And because the filmmakers really aren't up to their premise, the movie ends on a note of forced harmony that's enough to make the blood run cold. It's a reminder that even good white liberals still aren't sure how to act around black people. Which, come to think of it, would make a fine, socially "relevant" comedy. Perhaps Hollywood will make it someday. [27 Oct 1986, p.C4]
