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.