Sit back and relax, because you're in for a ride. I think I didn't say these corny terms in a review before, but you know what, it's the time to say it, while meaning a good thing too.This is a good old odd-couple comedy, written as a kind of musical road movie. I loved the script. It made good riot along the way, with nice games too (the matter of your daughter, my daughter. I'm so sick, you're so sick, etc). The comic lines were many and slick. However you have to feel that the comedy was lesser than the potential of the story and the cast. For instance it didn't need to bare some actor to make laughs, what it did need was less easy, less poor handling than that !(Bernie Mac) and (Samuel L. Jackson) are perfect. And maybe more perfect with each other. I wasn't a (Bernie Mac) fan until this movie by the way (very late I know !). Everything about him here is adorable, and I'm not talking out of nostalgia caused by his death. Look at the way he laughs that sarcastic, extremely idiot, laugh, or look at his crying over canceling his performance; OK, that moment was historical; I mean his only competitor would be (James Dean) in East of Eden (1955) through another crying scene. (Mac) portrayed pain there as it should be. The selection of songs did wonderfully. And the 2 leads' singing performance wasn't less wonderful. I have never imagined that (Mac) and (Jackson) could sing this catchy. The climax of this movie's fun remains in the scene inside the coffin; that was both hilarious and sentimental.Now, to the problems. Hmmm, not many though. Sure the ocean of the F words. I don't think that black people, out of Hollywood movies, swear in this superabundant way, and I don't think that it serves any comedy or drama, and I don't think that our ears are supposed to be trash boxes for that matter ! The F words with its derivatives run boringly and nastily while consuming them non-stop. The back projections, with the desert image, seemed too fake. Then, (Mac) was 50 year old, which makes him at least 10 years younger than his character. That was clear from the start, especially with the presence of someone older and fitter for his character like (Jackson) who was 60 year old. It was called with names like "having unoriginal script", lacking more comic situations, and ending pretty fast, but despite this or that, it worked, managing eventually to be delightful and colorful time on screen. And although (Soul Men) is 2 men show, but (Mac) was the one who stole it meritoriously.

This movie could have been really good. This movie should have been really good. Instead, it was a waste of the considerable talents of both Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac.This movie has the same premise as The Sunshine Boys and did start off very promising. The problem with it comes in the almost non-stop crude comedy bits that really don't add anything to the story.I will say that the pay-off are the parts where the two leads perform as their characters. They did an excellent job in that part of the role, but the writing of the rest of the movie just didn't bring out any of their talents.I did get a kick out of the homage to The Blues Brothers near the end of the movie.

I was not expecting a very good movie, but this turned out to be pretty well done. The plot was an old story, but they did a very good job keeping it fresh and not distractingly predictable. This would have been awful in the hands of anybody other than Bernie Mac and Samuel Jackson. Mac's expressions and his earnestness in selling a gag are irrepressible and Jackson knows when to be a straight man and when to deliver something special. Another re-write and some stronger direction would have made this a classic.During credits they run extended outtakes and an interview with Mac and it is handled with love and respect and it took the potentially creepy feeling of "their last appearance" away.

*Does Contain Spoilers, Be Careful* Just to clear things up I am not scoring this high because of Bernie Mac's last performance. This is a very well written story about two former musicians who travel from California to New York to do a reunion concert after their former band leader split up with them and died years later. I couldn't stop laughing and neither could the 12 people in the theater. Mac now a retiree and Samuel L. Jackson an auto mechanic reluctantly agree to travel together doing performances across the country. They haven't performed together in 30 years. Both actors have terrific singing voices and its hard not to laugh at the vulgar dialogue that comes courtesy of Samuel L. Jackson. He sounds like his past characters in "Jackie Brown" and "Pulp Fiction." Mac and Jackson who although swear a lot, are portrayed as sympathetic characters. They are estranged because of a woman they both fought over years ago in Memphis, Tennessee. The twenty-something daughter of that woman soon joins their tour after her abusive and dimwitted boyfriend forces her out. He was one silly character who may have stayed in the film 15 minutes too long. Plus a low level talent agent who becomes Mac and Jackson's manager while on the road. There is at least one distasteful scene where Mac takes an aged bar woman (Jennifer Coolidge) into his hotel room. Trouble awaits him the next morning while meeting Jackson with a different woman.If the director didn't aim at such gratuitous gags, and F-Bombs every 5 seconds it might have been a comedy with a heart. There is one scene where the duo dance to the car radio and sing a song called "I'm Your Puppet." The last scene is the last stage performance which closes the show with just a few text captions saying what happens subsequently. I won't spoil it. Make sure to catch Isacc Hayes in voice and person in the film's second half. The only real heart the film displays is a memorial tribute to Hayes and Mac. It shows during the end credits, Mac giving an interview of his life and ambitions, blooper reel, Mac doing a Stand-up routine, voice work in the sound booth, and a nice photo of Mac and Hayes with the words "Dedicated to Bernie Mac and Isacc Hayes." Both of them shall be dearly missed.