By Geno McGahee
Since I have the gold cable package where they charge you up the ass and you get a shit ton of channels you don’t want, I decided to try to get some value for my 300 a month bill. I went to the on demand films and didn’t see much that was interesting. I then read the synopsis for SOUL FOOD, a 1997 drama, that I had never heard of and it sounded interesting. A fucked up family that can’t get along. I can relate to that. I might just like that. I pressed play and sat back to watch this flick.
Bird (Nia Long) has gotten married to a former drug dealer, Lem (Mekhi Phifer), and there is already trouble in paradise. Lem is on the dance floor and an ex-girlfriend is rubbing her big ass on his crotch. Ahmad (Brandon Hammond), a kid caught in the middle of a lot of this madness, starts to narrate a lot of this story and introduces the key players, especially Big Mama (Irma P. Hall). It made me think of BIG MAMA’S HOUSE with Martin Lawrence and, as I watched this, I thought of that movie more and more, but I’ll get to that.
Ahmad talks about how Big Mama was the glue that kept the family together and thought of a way to fix every problem. When Bird goes to kick the ass of the ass-bumping ex of her new husband, she finds Big Mama dancing with him. That’s a fix? I think a boot up Lem’s ass is the way to go. She should have never married that loser, but she’s stuck with him. Initially, Big Mama was not impressive with her solutions to problems. To her credit, she did not rub her huge ass on the crotch of Lem. Maybe she did. I didn’t have any access to deleted scenes.
Teri (Vanessa Williams), a lawyer, is in a constant feud with her sister, Maxine (Vivica A. Fox), over an incident years ago where she stole her boyfriend, Kenny (Jeffrey D. Sams), who she would go onto marry. Teri married another lawyer, Miles (Michael Beach), and I recognized him right away. He was on the down low dude in LAW & ORDER SVU. That’s one of my favorite episodes of the series and I learned so much.
The family gets together every Sunday for a meal, hosted by Big Mama. They all go due to obligation and tradition but everyone seems to have issues. Things get worse when Faith (Gina Ravera) shows up after a life of trouble. Teri looks down on Faith and just about everyone else in the family, while Reverend Williams (Carl Wright) is a little too happy. I’m glad they have a creepy uncle. This makes the story that much more believable.
Big Mama is too fat to be old and learns that the unhealthy eating has given her some bad diabetes. While getting her leg amputated she has a stroke and goes into a coma, sending the family into a downward spiral of madness. The stroke leads to death and now the family fights over how to pay for the medical bills. It also exposes a lot of issues within the family and the relationships that they have.
Miles wants to be a musician and has a good band, but Teri wants him to remain a lawyer and give it up and she is also worried that he’s on the down low dude. Vanessa Williams is usually super hot but this look in this film isn’t working. Damn that director for making her look like this. She could have been a lawyer and still dressed well…not this weird business apparel shit. Her husband noticed too, starting a relationship with Faith after they moved her in. What was Teri thinking? She already lost one dude to another relative and now she’s moved in Faith, a troubled soul, who is very attractive, into her home? Then she trashes her husband’s dream and seems to be a total bitch most of the time. This was an accident waiting to happen.
Bird has to deal with the temper tantrums of Lem, a total scumbag, but the purpose of this film is to show that he’s not a jerk off. I don’t get that. Lem is a former drug dealer that is physically abusive to Bird. That’s unacceptable but the family seems to rally around Lem, except for Teri. Now, I’m not big on Teri, but when she finds out that Lem beat up Bird, she sends her thug relatives over there to stomp a mud hole in his ass. Lem fights back and pulls a gun and gets arrested again, which is where he belongs. He’s an ex-con with a gun. They should throw him in with Bubba with no lube.
Right when I was getting respect for Teri, she pulls some strings and gets Lem released from prison. What bullshit. In the meantime, Ahmad is lying to everyone about some secret stash of money that Big Mama had that will solve all the problems and save the house and the Sunday dinners. The possible last Sunday dinner happens and everyone seems to be getting along and they sort of realize that they still enjoy the dinners. Everything works out in the end and the family heals somewhat, but there were some odd things.
Ahmad mentions that Miles and Teri split up, but that Teri still comes back some Sundays for a meal. That had to be awkward I would think, and why is Faith off the hook so easy for fucking Teri’s husband, but Teri is still pissed at Maxine for stealing her high school boyfriend? It makes no sense.
I wonder if BIG MAMA’S HOUSE was a tribute or parody of this film. I have to watch that next and I will and I will review it after knowing what I know now. A lot of the same talent that was in this, including Nia Long, was in it. I might enjoy that movie a lot more now that I’ve seen SOUL FOOD.
SOUL FOOD is a really decent drama, but it seems to be giving too much forgiveness to pure scum. Lem should have been left in prison. He dealt drugs, got out and beat up his wife, began to nearly sell drugs again, pulled a gun, and beat up a guy at work. This guy should have been Bubba’s fuck toy for the next 30 years. So, he does all that and it’s good, but Miles strays after being mistreated by his wife and having a hot chick thrown in his face, and he’s out of there? What pure shit.
Overall, I liked SOUL FOOD. It’s paced well, develops the relationships and character well, and is definitely worth a watch. I recommend it.
