Soulman

Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell ) was born in silver spoon and is accepted by Harvard with his best friend Gordon Bloomfeld (Arye Gross). However, his father refuses to pay for his education following the advice of his shrink. Mark decides to pose as a black man to grant a scholarship from an organization and uses a tan product to change the color of his skin. Soon Mark learns how difficult the life of black people is in a racist environment and falls in love with the black single mother Sarah Walker. When he learns that Sarah would have been awarded with the scholarship he took, Mark decides to face the board led by Professor Banks (James Earl Jones) to disclose the truth. What will happen to him?

"Soul Man" is a silly and shallow comedy from the 80's. The idea is ahead of time since it was not usual interracial relationship in 1986. But the plot is corny and not well resolved. The greatest attraction in 2020 is to see the cast young. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Uma Escola Muito Louca" ("A Very Crazy School")

I remember watching Soul Man about twelve years ago when it was first aired on TV. Crazy, hilarious, sarcastic, emotional; what the hell I could go on forever describing this film.

This is the only film besides "The Outsiders" that C. Thomas Howell played a dual role of himself and a black student impersona. Okay I can agree with some comments that movie began to over step it's bounderies with the way African American culture was dealt with, but at the smae time I felt that it was stabalized with the humour adding that extra touch rather than people taking it more "Politically correct" way.

James Earl Jones and Rae Dawn Chong both did fabulous jobs as there acting really help give their characters' some edge that made it somewhat convincing.

Overall a brilliant film. If you can try to avoid the fact that it might be cliched of dealing with racial differences in a light hearted manner. Remember this is a comedy and not something to take "SERIOUSLY".

Another quality film from the 80's to add to the hitlist.

You can't talk about a movie like "Soul Man" without feeling your feet inevitably hitting a soap box. So let's get the film's controversy out of the way: Is it wrong for a white person like Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell) to disguise himself as a black person? In most cases, yes. Is it wrong to do so to obtain a scholarship? In all cases, double yes. Does it make a bad idea for a movie? Not necessarily.

The problem with "Soul Man" is not so much its premise as much as its execution. You have a white college student, Mark, from L.A. who learns that he and his friend Gordon (Arye Gross) have been accepted into Harvard Law School. The only problem is that even though he comes from a well-to-do family, his father decides not to support him financially. Mark tries every way to pay for his tuition and living expenses, including applying for financial aid, for which he is immediately turned down. I'm not so sure if that would happen in real life, but then again, I haven't applied to law school. Plus, anyone can apply for student loans, right? Regardless, Mark eventually comes across Harvard's only viable full-ride scholarship he can find, which happens to be solely for African-American students. In a fraudulent and risky move, he decides to turn himself black. He does so by taking tanning pills that increase the melanin in his skin, and dons a Jheri curl.

There are two problems with this transformation: 1.) Howell does not look African-American at all when he darkens his skin. In fact, I thought he looked like an Indian-American with a really bad hair stylist. Yet, in this movie, no character seems to think for a second that this guy isn't black, not even Harvard Professor Banks (James Earl Jones), who seems way too educated to be fooled.

2.) Most importantly, you never actually see Mark Watson come to the conclusion that posing as a black man is a good idea. The film just suddenly jump cuts from his vain attempts to seek financial support to his racial transformation, all with no explanation whatsoever. I wanted to see him take those pills and at least get an idea of what was going through his head. Also, why did he decide on a Jheri curl as a haircut? I would imagine that a Jheri curl, which already requires an ozone-killing amount of hair spray as it is, would be more difficult to maintain than simply shaving his head. John Howard Griffin employed the latter hairstyle choice while doing research for the novel "Black Like Me".

I could go on about the character weaknesses of Mark Watson, such as the fact that he doesn't seem smart enough to mop the floors of Harvard Law School let alone be a student there, nor does he have the motivation. He made the dumb decision to attend Professor Banks' criminal law class simply because Professor Banks was "a brother". He doesn't seem to register how intimidating James Earl Jones is as a Harvard professor, whereas I got the impression immediately as Jones was taking attendance in his first scene.

It's not C. Thomas Howell's fault that the Mark Watson character is the way he is, although his career suffered because of it. It's just that Mark should have been developed more, and not just be made a carbon copy of a member of the Delta Tau Chi frat in "Animal House" (1978). If Arye Gross's character was made that way, that's fine, but making both characters inept really ruins the base of the story.

Otherwise, I actually liked the parts of the film where Mark begins to realize that racism is not something that just died after the 1960's. He does say at one point that, "This (the 1980's) is the Cosby decade! America loves black people!" Well, not so much. While racism is not as obvious as it was before the Civil Rights Movement, it's still alive and well even in liberal Massachusetts.

I liked how Howell gets fazed little by little over two white classmates who like telling racists jokes to one another. I also thought his time in jail with unruly white disgruntled baseball players was stinging enough. The basketball montage (featuring Ronald Reagan's son, Ron Reagan) was also very funny.

I thought most of the supporting actors were convincing. Rae Dawn Chong was charming as ever, although her career also fizzled after this movie for some reason. Leslie Nielsen was also good as Mr. Dunbar, a building superintendent who does not take kindly to his beautiful daughter's (Melora Hardin) attraction to black Mark. The scene when he envisions Mark as a watermelon-eating pimp who shouts "Whatchu lookin' at!?!" was biting, but funny.

The fact that all these characters, black or white, were fooled by Mark being a black man is still what contributed to this movie's lack of credibility. Apparently also, not everyone was laughing at this movie either. Spike Lee and Eddie Murphy publicly denounced it. Then again, though, Richard Pryor reportedly found it funny.

Films about characters who make bad choices are not necessarily bad choices for movie plots. This wasn't a bad idea for a movie, but it could have been stronger if vital pieces of exhibition were not skimmed over haphazardly. What results is a film that is not black or white, but too gray.

As much as this movie floundered at times I still liked it. There were points I was thinking, "This is absurd," yet they pulled it off. What started off to be something of a daft comedy full of despicable racial stereotypes was all just a set up for a grand ending.

Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell) is a rich white L.A. kid living a shallow life, but he does get accepted to Harvard Law, which is no small task. It's at this time that his father (James B. Sikking) takes the advice of a less than stable psychiatrist and cut his son off financially.

Mr. Watson: "Son I want to give you your manhood."

Mark: "What would that mean in practical terms?"

Mr. Watson: "Well, it means I want you to go to Harvard, I want you to work hard-- very very hard. I also want you to feel good about yourself. You wanna feel good about yourself don't you son?"

Mark: "Sure Dad."

Mr. Watson: "Ha ha ha. That's why I've decided to let you pay your own way."

Mark: (stunned beyond belief) "Dad. That's... that's a sweet gesture, but it's really not necessary."

Mr. Watson: "Oh I think it is."

Mark: "What are you saying dad?"

Mr. Watson: "I'm saying that I took the money in your tuition account and used it to buy timeshare in a condo in Barbados."

And there you have it. Confident, excited Mark was turned into desperate Mark. In his desperation he hatched a hair-brained scheme. He would make himself up to look Black in order to get the Henry Q. Bouchard scholarship which is reserved for qualified Black applicants. What could go wrong? As Mark put it,

"It's gonna be great! These are the 80's man, it's the Cosby decade. America loves Black people."

Oh, how wrong he was.

For me, this movie was the cinematic representation of the book "Black Like Me." In 1959 John Howard Griffin took some pills to darken his skin in order to experience what it was like to be Black. He wrote an incredible book about the experience. Soul Man is a more humorous version of that same experiment.

Mark slowly learned that everyone didn't love Black people and that this plot of his would be much tougher than he imagined. And that was the most pleasing part of the movie. Seeing a privileged white kid come around to understand--even if only an inkling--what it's like to be Black.

Ridiculously unfunny 80s switcheroo comedy about a teenager named Mark (C. Thomas Howell) who desperately needs a scholarship to get into Harvard - the only problem is, the one remaining scholarship is open only to blacks. You can guess Mark's brilliant plan, as well as the fate of the entire movie. Funny premise and great co-stars (James Earl Jones, Leslie Nielsen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus) cannot a good movie make. Jokes are wasted and the film is way too predictable.

** / *****