Starring:
Tom Arnold as Mr. Hunkee
Kevin Hart as Nashawn
Method Man as Muggsy
Snoop Dogg as Captain Mack
K.D. Aubert as Giselle
Godfrey as Gaeman
Brian Hooks as DJ
D.L. Hughley as Johnny
Arielle Kebbel as Heather Hunkee
Loni Love as Shaniece
Mo’Nique Imes-Jackson as Jamiqua
Ryan Pinkston as Billy Hunkee
Missi Pyle as Barbara
Sommore as Cherry
Sofía Vergara as Blanca
Special Features:
Outtakes
Deleted Scenes
Cast Audio Commentary
“Boarding Pass: The Making of Soul Plane” Featurette
“The Upgrade” Featurette on the Director
Survivor Safety Video
Behind-the-Scenes Photo Gallery
Original Theatrical Trailer
Other Info:
Widescreen (1.85:1)
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
French & Spanish Subtitles
Running Time: 1 Hour 32 Minutes
Synopsis:
After successfully suing an airline for $100 million, Nashawn decides to start his own airline catering to the black clientele. Situated in the “Malcom X Terminal” at LAX, he offers food, stores, and security to African-American tastes. The plane is also purple, features spinner tires, and sports a posh first class and a NY subway styled “low class”.
On the maiden voyage of the airline to New York, Nashawn runs into a few problems. His hoodlum brother Muggsy turns the Business Class section into a casino and a strip club. The pilot Captain Mack is a drug addict and afraid of heights. Also, his former flame gets on the flight after their bad breakup. And despite all this, things get worse.
Also on the flight are Mr. Hunkee and his family the only white people on the plane. Besides being bombarded by black culture left and right, Mr. Hunkee also finds his daughter Heather trying to rebel. Will he overcome his whiteness to keep the family together?
This is the unrated edition of “Soul Plane”, but it was originally rated R for strong sexual content, language and some drug use.
The Movie:
Soul Plane is essentially a black version of “Airplane!”, except it’s not funny. And it’s cruder. And it sucks. Otherwise they are similar. Both have silly airplanes. Both have a bunch of jokes about flying. Both have wacky pilots and they both end the same way. The problem with Soul Plane is that it seems like it was written by junior high kids. The dialogue is filled with profanities like “n****r” and “f**k”. There are all sorts of disgusting sex jokes featuring a horny couple, a gay guy, and a blind man trying to finger a female passenger. And every sight gag involving the plane seems to have been thought up by a kid saying, “Wouldn’t it be cool if the plane jumped up and down? Or if it had a strip club?! Or if it had a bathroom attendant! That would be off da hook, dawg!”
I learned two things from the film. Apparently black people are loud and sex obsessed and white people are uncool morons. Seriously, most of the jokes in the film centered around these two themes or stereotypes. The movie rarely ventured into any other areas. I mean, Tom Arnold’s character sports a “Cracker Land” hat while doing his white guy routine. It’s that kind of stuff.
You know a movie sucks when Tom Arnold is the best actor in it. Despite being saddled with the stereotypical geeky white guy role, he does manage to generate a few laughs simply by looking shocked at the insanity around him. Otherwise nobody stands out. Snoop Dogg generally acts stoned (which apparently passes for cool these days). Method Man acts like an idiot. Kevin Hart just runs around screaming when not trying to be serious. All the women in the film either fall into the category of looking hot, being large and in charge, or being white.
This is the “mile-high unrated edition”. I never saw the theatrical version, so I can’t comment on how they compare. But it’s a safe bet that there’s a little more nudity and sexual dialogue. Whatever was added, it didn’t help. I’m also not a fan of rap, so the soundtrack didn’t do much for me either.
I’m not quite sure who to recommend this movie to. If you like comedies geared towards black audiences, you might enjoy this. However, your time would probably be better spent watching Airplane again.
The Extras:
There are quite a few bonus features included on this DVD:
Outtakes This is your standard outtakes feature loaded with bloopers, flubbed lines, and more. You see Snoop Dog cracking up among other things. If you like bloopers, you’ll enjoy this.
Deleted Scenes There are four deleted scenes included on the DVD and they are quite brief. One shows an extended scene of D.L. Hughley and Tom Arnold in the bathroom together. Another scene has Heather Hunkee talking about how big “black cockpits” are. The others aren’t terribly memorable.
Cast Audio Commentary Tom Arnold, Kevin Hart, director Jessy Terrero, and some other cast members provide the commentary. It’s pretty loud and rowdy and consists mainly of them laughing at each other on the screen. If you’re looking for insightful commentary on the making of the film, this isn’t it. Your enjoyment of it will depend on what you thought of the film.
“Boarding Pass: The Making of Soul Plane” Featurette This is a really long “making of” feature. It’s about 25 minutes long and features more than you’d ever expect to know about the movie. There are your standard interviews with the cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, etc. I think it could have been 10 minutes long and covered the film equally well.
“The Upgrade” Featurette on the Director This is a 5 minute video where the cast gushes about their director.
Survivor Safety Video This is the safety video from the film which is a parody of the song “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child.
The Bottom Line:
Just skip this one and rent “Airplane!” instead.
