Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell) is the pampered son of a wealthy family. An intelligent soul, Mark is destined for a four year stint at Harvard Law School, where he and his pal plan on becoming lawyers and being well off for the rest of their lives. A snag in Mark's plan comes when his father's psychiatrist suggests that his father begin to focus on himself rather than the needs of others, which results in Mark's father refusing to pay for his college tuition, playing the old "self responsibility" card. Mark totals the cost of tuition, room, and board for Harvard Law and realizes that he needs $50k to finance the next few years, all but crushing his plans of attending his dream college if he's forced to finance it by himself.Without a lot of options, Mark looks into various scholarships, stumbling upon one that looks good, although the primary qualification is the individual applying need be African-American. In an act of sheer desperation, Mark takes a handful of tanning pills to appear African-American so he can apply for the scholarship. He winds up getting the scholarship, which offers him a full ride to the school and gets him on the fast-track to success. It isn't until he meets a less fortunate African-American woman named Sarah (Rae Dawn Chong), who is in one of his law classes and struggling to balance her college life and personal life.To begin with, the assertion that a film like Steve Miner's Soul Man couldn't be made today is immediately dismissed with the fact that the Shawn and Marlon Wayans' film White Chicks, where two African-Americans impersonated white women, and Robert Downey Jr.'s performance as an African-American gunslinger in Tropic Thunder both exist and were made in the 2000's. Having said that, to assert that Soul Man is at all offensive is another knee-jerk reaction to the film's premise, which is executed in a way that's interesting, if nothing else. In some ways, Soul Man is one of the earliest depictions of class divisions and white privilege in a comedy film, especially one as mainstream as this one was.Consider the scene when a cop is trailing Mark while he is casually driving down the road in his vehicle. When the driver of a parked car suddenly swings their door open, Mark abruptly swerves, which results in the cop immediately pulling Mark over for allegedly changing lanes without a signal. Mark is then charged with being surly to an officer and must spend the following day behind bars, missing his important law test. This very scene illustrates the blatant discrimination in the law; had Mark been white, he almost certainly wouldn't have been pulled over, much less followed by the police officer.Scenes like this, amidst many others including the casual exchange of racist jokes and the cold looks from random pedestrians, really show the kind of discrimination that is so widely seen and discussed in the modern day. However, Soul Man's nearly fatal flaw is its sitcom approach to this idea. Writer Carol Black tries desperately hard to unnecessarily soften the material for a mainstream audience by adding in ridiculous scenes like Mark's parents coming the same time Sarah comes to study with Mark and a sex-crazed yuppie is in Mark's bedroom. In addition, any time Mark shares the scene with his roommate and pal Gordon (Arye Gross), the comedy of the film stalls almost entirely.Soul Man's desire to constantly find a punchline in every scene comes close to making its depiction of white privilege almost entirely moot. However, Soul Man does get big bonus points for not making its statements about casual racism an overblown moral in the film, with scenes of moralizing set to charming orchestration to make the audience feel warm and fuzzy. The scenes are very humbly depicted and morals are quietly communicated throughout, which makes this film sort of a blessing in disguise when it comes to the way it handles loftier emotions. This is the very definition of a film that's a wash, complete with strong social commentary amidst sitcom-style humor and subtle morals communicated through ridiculous situational comedy.Starring: C. Thomas Howell, Rae Dawn Chong, and Arye Gross. Directed by: Steve Miner.

C. Thomas Howell comes from a rich family and has been accepted to Harvard, but, when his father expects him to pay for his own college education and won't finance it, Tom goes to drastic measures for a scholarship. It seems that Harvard has, in this movie anyway, a scholarship for the most qualified African-American that comes from a certain demographic. So, of course, he goes black face and gets some soul, brother. I said soul. What actually sounds like a pretty lame, almost offensive, and just plain stupid film turns out in fact to be one of the most thought-provoking 1980s comedies made. Granted, it might be biting off more than it can chew, but this film is genuinely funny and has characters that are three-dimensional due in part to good acting by Tom; Rae Dawn Chong, who plays a student he starts to care for; and teacher James Earl Jones. My two favorite moments in the film are when he tells his parents, "Mom, Dad, I'm black!" and when he tells teacher James Earl Jones, "No sir, I didn't quite learn how it feels to be black, because I could at any time go back to being white." That moment really made the film for me, as it defines the difference between putting yourself in someone's place and actually being them. I see this film, from all the ratings, has a low mean, but I think it deserves better, as it's a very entertaining and funny film, while having moments that speak to the viewer in its indirect and subtle way without being preachy. I would definitely watch this again and would recommend it for those who like comedies with a little soul and substance to it.

You know those winter meals you make for cold nights, they're in no way good for you but they just give you that comforted feeling? That's the way we "children of the 80's" look back on those truly awful but oh-so-memorably cheesy flicks we grew up on. Who could forget Carl Weathers' failed attempt to become a leading male action movie star with the dreadful Action Jackson? Or the talking computer and the romantic nerd who made an incredibly annoying song very popular for about a year? Or good ol' Kev Bacon strutting around a barn to a cheesy 80's pop tune... And let's not forget the horror and bad post-star wars science fiction...but that's another review. Onto the delicious slice of cheesecake at hand that is Soul Man.Very white-white guy Mark Watson (C Thomas Howell) has just got into Harvard Law with his best bud (Arye Gross), but there's a spanner in the works. His newly enlightened Dad (the very funny James B Sikking) has decided to let Mark grow up a little by paying his own way. Unable to come up with the 50k Mark scams a scholarship meant for an African American student by taking an overdose of tanning pills and Michael Jackson-ing his hair. He gets in, and his "education" begins as he learns what it's like to be black on a mostly-white campus, and falls in love with a black girl (Rae Dawn Chong) to boot.It's typical 80's rom-com formula all the way, boy-meets-girl, boy loses girl while learning life lessons, boy-gets-girl in the end kind of thing. There's even a woefully cheesy romantic montage scene to the tunes of "Suddenly it's Magic"...pure gold! This one stands out from the pack because a) it has some genuinely gut-busting moments, and b) it has great performances from all the leads. C Thomas Howell is achingly hilarious in some scenes as the white-guy-trying-to-act-like a black guy. His facial expressions during the basketball game scene are gold. Rae Dawn Chong is always good, she's a great "straight-guy" to Howell's over-the-top Mark Watson. Arye Gross is great, it's easy to see why he went on to other (better) things, he's got some great comic timing and provides some of the movie's best moments. And James Earl Jones, although a little bit "i did this for the money", is imposing and dead-pan funny at the same time.It's not without it's flaws. The "Kareem" thing was a tad distasteful and required just a little too much suspension of disbelief. The black panther get-up at the BSLA meeting was just ridiculous, for one scene Watson seemingly becomes a total moron, then reverts back to being a normal guy. And the over the top punch out scene at the end where the two racist jokers go flying over cafeteria tables, that was just silly. But to compensate, there's some incredibly funny moments and just a good all round "feel" to this movie that will ensure it gets another play in my house soon.So, to sum up, Soul Man elicits more laughs than groans, so it's a winner in my books.

This movie was disgusting. C Thomas Howell was sorry. Oh, and could they find a more non black woman than Rae Dong Chong. I think if the casted an actress who excepts who she is would have given this piece of crap of movie a little more weight. The whole concept of a white boy taking pills to turn his skin brown to become black is absolutely absurd. I don't know one white kid in America who would do such a thing no matter how desperate they became. The racial jokes, police following him and the dating my white daughter thing is only the tip of the iceberg as far as racism goes. These examples were very light. There should be a law against making trash like this. Oh, by the way, what the heck was James Earl Jones doing in this toilet floater?