Soul Plane film review

certificate_18

SOUL PLANE

Soul Plane is the kind of film to put the ass in crass. It's so shrill and garish audiences should be issued earplugs and dark glasses, while the level of humour is so low it requires an excavator rather than a plane to get it. The only thing to get off the ground is political incorrectness, which Soul Plane takes to a whole new level. Here bad taste isn't simply a reference to the inflight meals.

In its defence, Soul Plane has no lofty aspirations. Its only concern is to garner laughs and it cares little how it's done. Its favoured topics are racial stereotyping, sexual innuendo and bodily functions, all of which it's happy to wear out and reduce to its crudest form. Even though it's deliberately tried to be offensive, the only really shocking thing about Soul Plane is that it actually got made in the first place.

The idea of spoofing an all black airline isn't necessarily the worst one ever devised. Started by Nashawn Wade (Kevin Hart) after he won $100m in a legal suit against another airline when they were deemed responsible for the death of his dog, he names his company NWA, as in Nashawn Wade Airlines. Their motto is "We fly. We party. We land," with passengers checking into Terminal Malcolm X before boarding Flight 69.

Soul Plane charts the airline's maiden voyage in the company of the cartoonish collection of passengers and crew. They range from a flamboyant flight attendant, to an African co-pilot with the unfortunate name of Gaeman to a sex crazed security mama. To insure no ethnicity is excluded from ridicule, the trailer trash Mr Hunkee (Tom Arnold) and his family are on board along with the be-turbaned Muslim who's dubbed Osama by his fellow passengers.

Director Jessy Terrero in some ways reflects the perpetually stoned and incompetent pilot Captain Mack (Snoop Dogg), in that he too is unable to control this large vehicle that he's been entrusted with.

Soul Plane does have some funny moments mostly courtesy of the giant purple plane that can bounce up the runway courtesy of its custom hydraulic system and boasts a nightclub and an economy section called 'Low Class'. But Soul Plane doesn't go anywhere. Instead it meanders all over the place and with so much flatulent humour, the turbulent journey is a rough ride.