| Soul
Plane Movie Review
Remember that part
in Charlie's Angels where Cameron Diaz's Natalie is
taken on a surprise date to a taping of Soul Train?
Well, Soul Plane is very similar to that funny scene,
once you strip away all the clever dialogue and replace
Ms. Diaz with Tom Arnold, who plays Elvis Hunkee, a
hapless dad who winds up on the maiden flight of a Black-owned
airline with his two teens and large-breasted girlfriend.
There's a hint at Plane's unamusing premise, which turns
out to be a first class ticket to Hades, a trip south
as prolonged and torturous as, say, watching The Parkers
and the rest of UPN's Monday night schedule.
A veritable shitload
of slapstick kicks Plane into gear. After arriving just
in time for his flight, Nashawn Wade (Kevin Hart) suffers
a humiliating experience in the plane's lavatory. His
subsequent lawsuit turns into a $100 million payday,
more than enough cash for him to start his own airline,
his dream ever since he was a boy growing up in Inglewood,
California. Presto, change-o -- NWA Airlines is born.
As you'd expect, Nashawn has poured plenty of cash into
making it all look good, right down to the terminal,
which is outfitted with a mini basketball court, 99-cent
store and Roscoe's Chicken n' Waffles. The lone plane,
all purple metallic majesty, looks straight out of Pimp
My Ride, with hydraulics switches in the cockpit, a
dance club on the top deck, gambling for business class
passengers, and lavatories suited for Mile High-jinx.
Which traffics in Soul
Plane's flaw: its sets and their respective pieces provide
the laughs, more than most people on-screen (two exceptions:
Mo'Nique's Jamiqua and Ryan Pinkston's Billy Hunkee).
When the Hunkees all catch jungle fever in the "low-class"
section of the plane (which here accounts for exposition),
it's funny, though the passengers holding on to bus
poles in the back win the scene. And as the plane bounces
on the runway, the scenario deflates when we cut to
the man hitting the hydraulics switches, Captain Mack
(Snoop Dogg), all clowning around and puffing on a joint.
We've seen you smoke, Snoop, and we know you dress like
a P-I-M-P. The final indication for me was another bathroom
scene (there are many) where the toilet seat's "Caucasian
adapter" was funnier than the man holding it; I
felt as though the laughs should be credited to set
designers, for they were able to visualize the ideas
of director Jessy Terrero and writers Bo Zenga and Chuck
Wilson, who dreamed up a lot of gadgets but neglected
to put any thought into their characters. Props are
only pleasing for so long, guys. Furthermore, shapeless
characters like Nashawn are fine, just don't make your
audience endure his reconciliation with his ex-, or
the Hunkees coming together as a family. (That is, by
the way, ultimately the storyline.)
Your motto, after all,
is: We fly, we party, we land. We don't need the drama
or the stereotypes, that's what UPN's for. Just keep
it bouncing.
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