Soul Man (Film Review Only). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE PLOT. ============ A young graduate finally gets his chance to go to Harvard Law School when suddenly his parents tell him he had to learn to stand on his own two feet independently. Desperate he decides to take a different option to get a chance at getting a degree.
THE STORYLINE =============== Mark Watson (C Thomas Howell) finally gets his chance of a law degree at Harvard Law School; over the moon by the news, he goes to visit his millionaire parents. He arrives to find that his father has a new Psychiatrist, who has talked his dad into cutting him off. Suddenly he is faced with the fact that he cannot get to Harvard unless he can get a scholarship. Whilst celebrating and partying with his friends he suddenly has a plan to achieve his dream and recruits the help of his friend who works for a tanning pharmaceutical company. Mark so desperate for the only scholarship left and spoiled rotten so against
working overdoses on tanning pills and poses as a young black student to get he scholarship he needs. His closest friend Gordon Bloomfeld (Arye Gross) tries his hardest to help him keep up the act, but he falls for Sarah Walker (Rae Dawn Chong), the young black student he took the scholarship from. He finds himself having to deal with the issues of guilt over the scholarship and people's racial views on top of the hard workload put on him to ensure he achieves by his tutor Professor Banks (James Earl Jones).
THE ACTING/MY OPINION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All the characters in this film I feel play there parts fantastically and the comedy roles of C Thomas Howell and Ayre Gross seem to compensate each other and compliment the others acting abilities. James Earl Jones has been perfectly cast a s a strict professor of law in the film as that wonderful deep voice bellows its tones through the film in perfect harmony for the character he is playing and Rae Dawn Chong plays single mum desperate for a law degree and always looking on the serious side extremely well when you compare this with the terrible acting she produced for us in Commando.
SUMMARY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A good film with an excellent storyline, which manages to entwine the problems facing some young black students from other students and from the community as a whole. This film has several quite comical moments and we get the pleasure of a performance from Leslie Nielson who plays Mr Dunbar (Whitney's Father). They show in the film how he is used in a relationship, joked about and bullied due to the colour of his skin. Does he come clean and show them all the real colour of his skin, will he manage to get his Law Degree he is so desperate for. That you will have to watch to find out.
The Director. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here we see a good comedy film from a director who usually prefers to stick to the horrors with films like Halloween H20, Friday the 13th part 2 and 3, Lake placid and House. Steve Miner has done himself proud in directing this film and making it have both comedy and still manage to incorporate the serious side to the story in tackling some racial issues. Especially when you consider the differences of directing a comedy to a suspense horror, which he is more famously known for directing.
My Favourite Scene ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I think my favourite scene is when Whitney takes Mark home to dinner to meet her parents who are strongly against inter-racial relationships and we get to watch each family have wild thoughts about Mark as they look at him, making him feel extremely uncomfortable and unwelcome.
THE CAST ================ Mark Watson ~~~ C Thomas Howell Sarah Walker ~~~ Rae Dawn Chong Gordon Bloomfeld ~~~ Ayre Gross Whitney Dunbar ~~~ Melora Hardin Professor Banks ~~~ James Earl Jones Mrs Sherwood ~~~ Linda Hoy Mr. Dunbar ~~~ Leslie Nielson Mrs Dunbar ~~~ Ann Walker Bill Watson ~~~ James Sikking Dorothy Watson ~~~ Marie Cheatham Dr Aronson ~~~ Max Wright
TECHNICAL DETAILS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Directed by Steve Miner
Language: English Region: Region 1 Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Number of discs: 1 Rating PG-13 Studio: Anchor Bay DVD Release Date: March 19, 2002 Run Time: 105 minutes Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Widescreen, NTSC DVD Features: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround) Commentary by: director Steven Miner and actor C. Thomas Howell Unknown Format
Pictures of Soul Man (DVD)
White Mark Watson
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Haven't seen this one, but it sounds like one to look out for. M
n13roy 28.08.2006 08:27
Nice easy to read and informative Film review there, I remember seeing this in the CInema, all those Years ago, not seen it since though.........Roy.....
![Soul Man [1986] [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78369575.jpg "Soul Man [1986] [DVD]")
very helpful by (100%):
