Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Soul Man (1986)
Director: Steve Miner
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
The plot of' Soul Man - white middle class boy takes an overdose of suntan pills to enable him to qualify fraudulently for a black law students' scholarship - is sufficient to leave the meekest ideologue screeching with rage. But it's hard to be angry with a film which at least is an honest attempt to make a responsible (if lightweight) comedy encompassing aspects of racism in America. It's often extremely funny, but the problem is that Miner undermines his good intentions by allowing too many jokes about racial stereotypes. Soul Man is at its most incisive when questioning everyday racist assumptions, and is helped to that end by fine performances from Howell (as the fraud), Chong and Jones. In the end, however, it's let down by one easy laugh too many.Author: DPe
Cast & crew
Director: Steve Miner
Producer: Steve Tisch
Cast: C Thomas Howell, Arye Gross, Rae Dawn Chong, James Earl Jones, Melora Hardin, Leslie Nielsen, James B Sikking full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 105 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now