Soul Plane - This review alone is reason enough not to see it
 

SOUL PLANE / F
U.S. Release Date: May 28, 2004
Distributor: MGM
Director: Jessy Terrero
Cast: Tom Arnold, Kevin Hart, Method Man, Snoop Dogg
MPAA Rating: R
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“Heaving On A Jet Plane”
by Scott Holleran

If you find the Sept. 11 attack on America a barrel of laughs, you'll find Soul Plane hysterical. When director Jessy Terrero and the writers -- too busy trying to establish street credentials to write decent jokes -- present rapper Snoop Dogg's ex-con airline captain posing for a flight school photograph next to a few Jihadists, you half expect a box-cutter gag.

The real gag is this piece of vulgar black trash, which manages to insult (not spoof) virtually everyone. After a clever opening sequence, with an adorable baby ogling a mobile of airplanes and a hip, stylized Los Angeles International Airport, Soul Plane takes a nosedive.

When the lead character (Kevin Hart) takes a flight and gets his fanny stuck in a toilet, which ridiculously results in his dog being sucked into the engine, he sues, wins a multimillion dollar judgment and decides to establish his own airline. That's as logical as the movie, which is without a plot, gets.

Soul Plane lacks whatever one might expect from a silly, politically incorrect satire, like Airplane! or I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Other than Dogg and Tom Arnold, the cast is relatively unknown, and the lousy script isn't their fault. The screenplay is stuck on situations with today's most prominent black targets for topical humor -- Bobby and Whitney, The Reverend Al and Kobe -- getting more mileage in a Letterman monologue. Janet Jackson's nipple doesn't even rate one line, though a lame joke about her brother is slipped in toward the end.

Among the worst moments: a horny blind man (John Witherspoon) mistakes female genitalia for a baked potato -- Dogg's drug addict captain sends the plane into a dive (the co-pilot is busy soaking in an onboard hot tub) -- and the requisite white bitch (Missi Pyle in the same role she played in Bringing Down the House) ditches Tom Arnold's character for a black stud who's hung like a horse.

That's about midway through the movie and neither she nor the dude (Dwayne Adway, who played Dennis Rodman in a TV movie) is heard from again. The passenger whom the blind guy mistakes for a potato also disappears, and that's just fine. They escape a racist script that treats blacks as a bunch of slobbering, horny hip-hoppers or the most docile creatures, happy as can be for some booty, a tune to dance to or a bucket of fried chicken. Don't be surprised if Soul Plane is used as a recruiting tool for white supremacists and Nation of Islam types

Grade: F

Wow. That review just makes me want to see it more!

Well I know what I'm seeing Monday morning now.

I liked 3 Strikes, so I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy this.

racism.

Why does it have to be "The real gag is this piece of vulgar black trash"? Why can't it just be trash??

It's, um, like, uh...a play on the term 'white trash', and stuff. Uh, yeah.

I admit, I saw Soul Plane today. I put $6 of my own money towards this film.

I laughed at a few scenes, but most of them occured before the "soul plane" took off. When the plane took off, the film went down hill. A laugh or two here and there, but that's about it. Would've worked better as a 5 minute Mad TV or SNL skit then a full-length 90 minute movie.

At least it wasn't as bad as Envy and Van Helsing, and for that I'm happy.

I can't believe Hollywood greenlighted this stereotypical movie. It's like a throwback to the 1930's or 40's when all blacks were blantant stereotypes.

Would it kill these execs to actually make a movie starring a black cast that was... ::gasp:: intelligent?

Even comedies can be intelligent.

They do, but they only seem to play at certain festivals and select cities.

Eve's Bayou
Love and Basketball
Antoine Fisher
The Visit

Great movies with predominately black casts. But it's too bad that I always have to wait til DVD or cable to see them.

Well I think its kind of a shame really. I think it starts with the screenplays. I doubt there are too many African-American screenwriters in Hollywood and even less that are actually producing intelligent African-American led stories.

I definately want to see this (on DVD), and will definately rent or buy it when it comes out.

If the trailer contained what the producers considered to be the "selling points" for this movie, then that was enough to convince me that this is probably something that would make most people cringe, and self-respecting blacks shake heir heads in disbelief.

I haven't seen Soul Plane so I can't comment on it's stereotypes. But on a similar note, I saw You Got Served for the first time last weekend and I was really surprised this movie didn't get criticized for ITS stereotypes.

You have black male lead characters who:

1. Make money by either dancing or assisting in some part of a drug deal

2.Are quick to jump to violence at the first sign of anger, on at least three occasions

3. Spend all their free time either dancing or playing basketball

I was a bit surprised at the matter of fact way this movie dished out stereotypes, and it wasn't even playing it as a joke. Maybe it's just poor writing, I don't know.

You should see the You Got Served deleted scenes. They have a fried chicken eating contest. The loser has to buy the winner a months supply of red kool-aid. Unfortunately, the guy that loses is a 'sore loser', and he clubs the winner over the head with a piece of watermelon.

^^Are you serious or just joking??

Sarcasm is weak in this one ^^^

Junk

:)

I thought the previews looked funny, not that I would actually pay money to go out and see it.

Seeing the preview every single Friday when I went to the movies for like 2 months was more than enough for me to NEVER see it. Same goes for White Chicks. Could they not show that preview with every film? Even HP had the preview before it.

:lol:

Sadly, the stereotypes of Soul Plane were the funniest parts of the movie (boy, I'm going to hell for this). Take this for example:

The plane in the film was divided into three damn sections: High class (first class). Middle class (business class). Low class (coach).

Low class looked like a city bus with ads all over the place, black and white televisions glued onto the walls, people standing up instead of sitting down, old car seats glued into the plane for those who paid to sit, and for the in-flight meal buckets of Popeye's chicken were being passed around!

Come on! That's ****in' hilarious!

:)

Did you really need that review to make up your mind? Heck, the trailer alone is reason enough for me not to see it. Ditto for 'White Chicks'. Trash is putting it mildly.

I thought the preview was pretty funny.. I knew most of the lot here would be slinging blind words of hate (and are probably the same guys first in line for Spiderman 2). I hope I can find the time to check this out before it leaves the theater.