Soul Man

Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell ) was born in silver spoon and is accepted by Harvard with his best friend Gordon Bloomfeld (Arye Gross). However, his father refuses to pay for his education following the advice of his shrink. Mark decides to pose as a black man to grant a scholarship from an organization and uses a tan product to change the color of his skin. Soon Mark learns how difficult the life of black people is in a racist environment and falls in love with the black single mother Sarah Walker. When he learns that Sarah would have been awarded with the scholarship he took, Mark decides to face the board led by Professor Banks (James Earl Jones) to disclose the truth. What will happen to him?

"Soul Man" is a silly and shallow comedy from the 80's. The idea is ahead of time since it was not usual interracial relationship in 1986. But the plot is corny and not well resolved. The greatest attraction in 2020 is to see the cast young. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Uma Escola Muito Louca" ("A Very Crazy School")

I remember watching Soul Man about twelve years ago when it was first aired on TV. Crazy, hilarious, sarcastic, emotional; what the hell I could go on forever describing this film.

This is the only film besides "The Outsiders" that C. Thomas Howell played a dual role of himself and a black student impersona. Okay I can agree with some comments that movie began to over step it's bounderies with the way African American culture was dealt with, but at the smae time I felt that it was stabalized with the humour adding that extra touch rather than people taking it more "Politically correct" way.

James Earl Jones and Rae Dawn Chong both did fabulous jobs as there acting really help give their characters' some edge that made it somewhat convincing.

Overall a brilliant film. If you can try to avoid the fact that it might be cliched of dealing with racial differences in a light hearted manner. Remember this is a comedy and not something to take "SERIOUSLY".

Another quality film from the 80's to add to the hitlist.

When I started to watch this film I thought, not another teen movie. That's not to say it wasn't funny because it was hilarious but then something happened in the film as it began to give a message of racism in American society in particular(and the world by inference). The premise that a white student could become black just by using tanning pills is so ridiculous but if you get over that funny leap in belief and you give this film your time you will be rewarded with a sentimental love story with a anti-racist message and what's more, the movie makes you think- what if I were black? Would I be treated like that just on the basis of the colour(or color as you Americans spell it) of my skin?

The main character Howell comes across as a bit of a j***k, pardon my language, at first but you see him mature with what he sees happening around him. His self importance disappears with every racist moment and we are left with not a broken man as maybe someone who had to put up with it all through their life (a Black person) but because he can go back to being seen as important in society (i.e. a white man) he is left enriched by the experience and an infinitely better person. The love angle is very well portrayed especially by two people who actually went on to get married after the movie in real life which just shows the chemistry between them on screen. The only thing after seeing this movie that I can see wrong with it is its competing ideas and themes- you are not sure what you have watched, was it a teen movie, love story, drama or anti-racist 'propaganda'. Personally as someone who likes all those types of movies I think it is the my greatest modern movie of all time. 10/10

I remember watching this in my early teens, and thinking it was one of the funniest films that I had seen. Watching it again over 10 years later, its still pretty funny. In the age of political correctness it probably has quite poor taste, but thats not its intention. Its a lightweight comedy, and thats the way it should be taken. There are a few moments where a message and moral does come through, especially in the later half of the film. This adds to the films charm, as well as giving people a fairly superficial albeit correct notion of the social struggle faced by some races. C Thomas Howell was very good in this film, and I feel that its a shame that he does not make that many feature films these days- he seems to appear a lot in direct to video films. It was also interesting to watch Julia Louis-Dreyfuss in her very pre-Seinfeld days, before she became Elaine. This really is a funny film, very unbelievable but heaps better than the lame comedies that the big studios are serving up these days.

Ridiculously unfunny 80s switcheroo comedy about a teenager named Mark (C. Thomas Howell) who desperately needs a scholarship to get into Harvard - the only problem is, the one remaining scholarship is open only to blacks. You can guess Mark's brilliant plan, as well as the fate of the entire movie. Funny premise and great co-stars (James Earl Jones, Leslie Nielsen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus) cannot a good movie make. Jokes are wasted and the film is way too predictable.

** / *****