Review: Soul Plane (** 1/2)

SOUL PLANE
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2


Jessy Terrero's SOUL PLANE is an outrageous and sporadically funny takeoff
on AIRPLANE! With an almost all black cast, it takes sexual, bathroom and
racial humor to the extremes. It has already outraged many groups, most
especially black ones, for the film's stereotypes, of which it has plenty.
But viewers will be hard pressed not to find some jokes that work for them.
You'd have to have earplugs to keep from laughing some, and, even then, the
visuals will tickle you. After a while, SOUL PLANE overstays its welcome.
It's the sort of movie for which the admonition, just wait for video, is
most appropriate and isn't meant to be derogatory.



It all starts when Nashawn (Kevin Hart) is fed bad food on an airline, which
gives him the runs, causing him to be in the worst place possible when the
captain announces that all passengers must return to their seats immediately
due to heavy turbulence. The upshot of it all is that his dog dies in
flight -- don't ask, and he ends up winning a one-hundred-million dollar
damages award, which he uses to start his own airline.



Nashawn's airline features lots of soul and rhythm, at least in every class
except low class, where overhead bins are beaten-up metal lockers that need
quarters to operate. The only beverage served in this steerage class is
extra-potent malt liquor -- the kids get little bottles. Tom Arnold plays
the father of a family who accidentally find themselves the only whites on
board.



With a disco dance floor and other amenities, the new airline and its
pimpmobile plane really try to live up to its motto: "We fly. We party. We
land." But, before they take off, we watch as a plus-size, black female
security guard enjoys strip-searching a buff man, who doesn't find it fun.



Snoop Dogg, in another of his scene stealing performances, plays Captain
Mack, an airplane pilot on his first flight. Nashawn thought Captain Mack f
lew in Desert Storm. Actually, Captain Mack explains, he "drew" in Desert
Storm, painting anti-Iraqi obscenities on the bombs before they were loaded
on the warplanes. Draw a bead on this film when you can rent it for a few
bucks.



SOUL PLANE runs 1:30. It is rated R for "strong sexual content, language
and some drug use" and would be acceptable for most teenagers.



The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the
Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.



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