Synopsis
A caucasian prospective grad student's affluent family won't pay his way through law school, so he takes tanning pills to darken his skin in order to qualify for an African-American scholarship at Harvard. He soon gets more than he bargained for, as he begins to learn what life is really like for blacks in America.
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Cast
- C. Thomas HowellMark Watson
- Rae Dawn ChongSarah Walker
- Arye GrossGordon Bloomfeld
- James Earl JonesProfessor Banks
- Melora HardinWhitney Dunbar
- Leslie NielsenMr. Dunbar
- Ann WalkerMrs. Dunbar
- James B. SikkingBill Watson
- Max WrightDr. Aronson
- Jeff AltmanRay McGrady
Recommendations
- 90
Variety
This social farce is excellently written, fast paced and intelligently directed. Film is hilarious throughout. - 80
The New York Times
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
TV Guide Magazine
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] - 30
Washington Post
Chong breathes some occasional life into Soul Man, as does Arye Gross, who displays a rich variety of comic attitudes as Mark's roommate. What surrounds them, though, is a black comedy with so little gumption, it ends up a vague shade of gray, composed of a collection of cheap jokes excused by smug platitudes about race -- in short, a movie called Soul Man whose soul, it seems, is quite lost. - 25
Chicago Sun-Times
This is a genuinely interesting idea, filled with dramatic possibilities, but the movie approaches it on the level of a dim-witted sit-com. Thoughtful scenes are followed by slapstick, emotional moments lead right into farce, and the movie doesn't have an ounce of true moral courage; it sidesteps every single big issue that it raises. - 25
Chicago Tribune
Soul Man is a slick, frightening piece of work. It's not only because Ron Reagan Jr. has a bit part in it that it seems the definitive Reagan-era film.
