In Theaters: November 7, 2008

One week until 007 people! In the meantime, this weekend brings two new comedies–one kinda sucks, but the other kinda doesn’t.

Soul Men
Directed by Malcolm D. Lee
Starring Bernie Mac, Samuel L. Jackson, Sharon Leal and Isaac Hayes
**
You know, it sucks that Bernie Mac is dead, but it sucks even harder that Soul Men is the poor guy’s last film. Well, okay, it’s not technically his final picture as he does have a supporting part in the Disney comedy Old Dogs, due out in ‘09. In that movie though, he’s basically playing backup for stars Robin Williams and John Travolta. Soul Men, on the other hand, casts him front and center opposite Samuel L. Jackson, as Floyd Henderson, one-half of an R&B singing group that broke up decades ago. After getting their start as backup men for soul singer Marcus Hooks (John Legend), Floyd and his pal Louis Hinds (Jackson) formed their own act after Hooks went solo.

But infighting quickly tore them apart and they abandoned music to pursue other careers—Floyd as the owner of a car wash chain and Louis as a part-time mechanic. When it’s announced that Marcus has kicked the bucket, the pair are asked to dust off their costumes perform at a memorial concert organized by VH1. So Floyd and Louis pile into a convertible and set off on a cross-country road trip that gives them plenty of opportunities to dredge up old arguments and discover new secrets about each other.

Jackson and Mac were good friends in real life, so it’s understandable that they believed their chemistry would carry over to the screen. I’m sorry to say that’s not the case. Instead of playing off each other, the two actors play against each other—they take such delight in trading insults and abuse, it’s tough to know whether to laugh or call in a relationship counselor. Part of the problem is that the script doesn’t give them anything particularly funny to do beyond their incessant squabbling.

Screenwriters Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone assemble their patchwork narrative from a number of other, far more memorable road trip flicks and director Malcolm D. Lee shows little of the comic timing he demonstrated in underrated movies like Undercover Brother and Roll Bounce. Worst of all, for a movie about soul music, Soul Men has a tin ear when it comes to its soundtrack. When Mac and Jackson finally take the stage to sing, they belt out the most uninspired R&B numbers this side of All-4-One. It’s criminal that the music is this bland, particularly when the filmmakers tapped soul legend Isaac Hayes (who also died shortly after shooting his role) to appear as himself in a few scenes, as if giving his seal of approval to the proceedings. If you really want to see Jackson and Mac at their funniest, skip Soul Men and program a DVD double bill of The Original Kings of Comedy and Jackie Brown.

Verdict: Skip It

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Role Models
Directed by David Wain
Starring Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Bobb’e J. Thompson
***1/2

Based on the awful ad campaign Universal has mounted for Role Models, I wouldn’t blame you if you thought David Wain’s third directorial effort—and first mainstream flick—looked about as appealing as root canal surgery. But I’m here to tell you that, unlike Soul Men, this is a fuckin’ funny movie that finally gives Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott the breakout star turns they’ve been looking for their whole careers. A word of caution, though: don’t go in expecting a subversive satire like Wain’s brilliant debut Wet Hot American Summer. Role Models is pitched right down the middle, with a story that we’ve seen countless times before.

Scott and Rudd play two self-absorbed assholes who land in a spot of legal trouble and are sentenced to serve as mentors to a pair of oddball teens as part of a big-brother program. Wheeler (Scott) is assigned to Ronnie (Bobb’e J. Thompson), a pint-sized version of Raw-era Eddie Murphy, while Danny (Rudd) gets Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse or, as he’ll be known until the end of his days, McLovin), a socially awkward geek who escapes the real world by participating in a Dungeons & Dragons-style role-playing game. Would it surprise you to learn that the kids start off hating their court-appointed big brothers and vice versa but then find some common ground and become friends? If so, then you probably need to watch more movies.

Based on this thumbnail recap of the movie, it’s tempting to brand Wain as yet another hipster sell-out, who abandons his eccentric comic stylings the minute Hollywood backs up its money truck. But don’t be so quick to write him off; even though the film follows a very familiar formula, Wain and his co-writers Rudd, Ken Marino and Timothy Dowling put their own distinct stamp on the material. While none of the gags in Role Models are as delightfully weird as the humor on display in Wet Hot American Summer, The Ten (or the short-lived Comedy Central series Stella, which Wain wrote and acted in alongside Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter), there’s a cleverness to the dialogue here that’s immediately recognizable for fans of those earlier projects. Many of the film’s biggest laughs come from lines that are delivered in such an off-the-cuff manner, they don’t immediately register as hilarious. And then there’s the movie’s awesome, if a little overlong, climax-a loving homage to (and dead-on spoof of) the epic fantasy battles in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, played out in a public park with an army of teenage dorks and equally dorky adults dressed up in homemade costumes, fighting each other with foam swords.   You may have seen movies like Role Models before, but chances are you haven’t seen a big action setpiece quite like this one.

Verdict: See It