*Does Contain Spoilers, Be Careful*
Just to clear things up I am not scoring this high because of Bernie Mac's last performance. This is a very well written story about two former musicians who travel from California to New York to do a reunion concert after their former band leader split up with them and died years later. I couldn't stop laughing and neither could the 12 people in the theater. Mac now a retiree and Samuel L. Jackson an auto mechanic reluctantly agree to travel together doing performances across the country. They haven't performed together in 30 years.
Both actors have terrific singing voices and its hard not to laugh at the vulgar dialogue that comes courtesy of Samuel L. Jackson. He sounds like his past characters in "Jackie Brown" and "Pulp Fiction." Mac and Jackson who although swear a lot, are portrayed as sympathetic characters. They are estranged because of a woman they both fought over years ago in Memphis, Tennessee. The twenty-something daughter of that woman soon joins their tour after her abusive and dimwitted boyfriend forces her out. He was one silly character who may have stayed in the film 15 minutes too long. Plus a low level talent agent who becomes Mac and Jackson's manager while on the road. There is at least one distasteful scene where Mac takes an aged bar woman (Jennifer Coolidge) into his hotel room. Trouble awaits him the next morning while meeting Jackson with a different woman.
If the director didn't aim at such gratuitous gags, and F-Bombs every 5 seconds it might have been a comedy with a heart. There is one scene where the duo dance to the car radio and sing a song called "I'm Your Puppet." The last scene is the last stage performance which closes the show with just a few text captions saying what happens subsequently. I won't spoil it. Make sure to catch Isacc Hayes in voice and person in the film's second half. The only real heart the film displays is a memorial tribute to Hayes and Mac. It shows during the end credits, Mac giving an interview of his life and ambitions, blooper reel, Mac doing a Stand-up routine, voice work in the sound booth, and a nice photo of Mac and Hayes with the words "Dedicated to Bernie Mac and Isacc Hayes." Both of them shall be dearly missed.
Just to clear things up I am not scoring this high because of Bernie Mac's last performance. This is a very well written story about two former musicians who travel from California to New York to do a reunion concert after their former band leader split up with them and died years later. I couldn't stop laughing and neither could the 12 people in the theater. Mac now a retiree and Samuel L. Jackson an auto mechanic reluctantly agree to travel together doing performances across the country. They haven't performed together in 30 years.
Both actors have terrific singing voices and its hard not to laugh at the vulgar dialogue that comes courtesy of Samuel L. Jackson. He sounds like his past characters in "Jackie Brown" and "Pulp Fiction." Mac and Jackson who although swear a lot, are portrayed as sympathetic characters. They are estranged because of a woman they both fought over years ago in Memphis, Tennessee. The twenty-something daughter of that woman soon joins their tour after her abusive and dimwitted boyfriend forces her out. He was one silly character who may have stayed in the film 15 minutes too long. Plus a low level talent agent who becomes Mac and Jackson's manager while on the road. There is at least one distasteful scene where Mac takes an aged bar woman (Jennifer Coolidge) into his hotel room. Trouble awaits him the next morning while meeting Jackson with a different woman.
If the director didn't aim at such gratuitous gags, and F-Bombs every 5 seconds it might have been a comedy with a heart. There is one scene where the duo dance to the car radio and sing a song called "I'm Your Puppet." The last scene is the last stage performance which closes the show with just a few text captions saying what happens subsequently. I won't spoil it. Make sure to catch Isacc Hayes in voice and person in the film's second half. The only real heart the film displays is a memorial tribute to Hayes and Mac. It shows during the end credits, Mac giving an interview of his life and ambitions, blooper reel, Mac doing a Stand-up routine, voice work in the sound booth, and a nice photo of Mac and Hayes with the words "Dedicated to Bernie Mac and Isacc Hayes." Both of them shall be dearly missed.