'Soul Plane,' so lame

The creators of "Soul Plane" were aiming for an urban version of "Airplane" when they made the film. They were successful on copying its style, but they forgot a crucial part of "Airplane" … the humor. In addition to jokes not striking the right key, the movie is also offensive to many audiences as well. It would seem that the film was written as they were making it. This is director Jessy Terrero's first feature-length film, and it shows. \nKevin Hart stars as Nashawn Wade, who is involved in a tasteless sequence at the beginning of the movie. His dog is killed by flying through a jet engine, and Nashawn is injured by using the airplane toilet. After successfully suing the airline, Nashawn is awarded $100 million. Nashawn then decides to start his own airline, Nashawn Wade Airlines, or NWA for the rap-inclined, that caters to an African-American clientele. \nElvis Hunkee (Tom Arnold) and his white family are returning home from "Cracker Land," when they get rerouted aboard this plane filled with black stereotypes. Upon leaving, they have to depart from Terminal (Malcolm) X, which is a shopping mall inside the airport. Elvis' son is converted to the urban culture just by entering the mall.\nThis is the inaugural trip of NWA Flight 069, and it goes not as planned for Nashawn. High class and low class black stereotypes are represented through first class and coach passengers. Fried chicken, Colt 45, spinning chrome wheels and Cristal Champagne are among the vehicles of degradation used. The movie also shows an Arabian man being mistreated by security in hopes of getting cheap laugh. \nBesides being racially offensive, "Soul Plane" also makes numerous distasteful sexual references. Homophobic jokes, as well as nasty sexual suggestions, are the norm. \nWhen we finally meet the drug-abusive Captain Mack (Snoop Dogg) almost halfway through the movie, lots of laughs are to be expected, but due to poor writing we see nothing new.\nAdding insult to injury, a love story is a popped out of nowhere. This is a desperate attempt to make the movie slightly sugar-coated, setting aside the fact that they were blatantly offensive and adolescent throughout the entire film. \nThe two actors that could have saved this poor plot and gotten a few extra chuckles were not used nearly enough. Snoop Dogg and Method Man seem unenthused about being in this movie, and rightfully so. As a result, the two of them give performances that are nowhere near their best. During this 86 minute movie I did laugh once, so it isn't completely the worse thing ever made. Although, with recent success of Dave Chappelle, the writers of "Soul Plane" could have taken a lesson in presenting stereotypes in a manner that makes sense.