When Soul Men was announced back in September, I couldn’t get too excited on account of the screenplay by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone (who brought you Intolerable Cruelty, Life and the spellbinding Man of the House). Though the casting of Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac as feuding soul singers who reunite to honor a recently deceased ex-band member was spot on, there seemed a high potential for something formulaic and forgettable (even with the producers attempting to license the entire Stax Records catalogue). Perhaps if they landed a decent director…
With four finished films to his credit, Malcolm Lee has proven himself to be more competent than solid, but I much prefer him to most studio hacks. The Best Man was average, Undercover Brother was amusing (but useless as satire) and Roll Bounce was kind of charming. I haven’t seen Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins yet, but if it’s anything like Welcome Home Brother Charles… Malcolm Lee would a) be my hero, and b) probably not be directing Soul Men.
Soul Men is scheduled to begin shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana this January. David Friendly, Steven Greener and Charles Castaldi will produce, while Dimension Films will distribute.