Susan Granger’s review of “Soul Plane” (M.G.M)
Created as a hip-hop spin on “Airplane!” – this vulgar, tasteless drivel crashes on take-off. After insisting he endured humiliation aboard a big commercial carrier, Nashawn Wade (Kevin Hart) is awarded $100 million in compensation. With the help of his cousin Muggsy (Method Man), he decides to launch his own airline, NWA, aimed at the African American traveler. His metallic purple and chrome-colored flagship with oversized, hydraulic wheels is equipped with an on-board dance club, funky music, live DJs and attitude-laden flight crew as it departs from its own Malcolm X Terminal in Los Angeles for New York City. With recently paroled, weed-smoking Capt. Mack (Snoop Dogg) already flying high in the cockpit, the passenger list includes Nashawn’s ex-girlfriend (K.D. Aubert), Elvis Hunkee (Tom Arnold) with his trophy mistress (Missi Pyle) and kids (Ryan Pinkston, Arielle Kebbel), plus a randy couple eager to join the Mile High club. High Class is drop-dead sleek with Cristal champagne, filet mignon and Maine lobster, while Low Class is so cut-rate that the fried chicken is stale and the seats don’t match. Before take-off, the sexy stewardesses sing Destiny Child’s “Survivor.” First-time director Jessy Terrero relies on his music-video background for inspiration since Kevin Bisch, Freddie Gutierrez, Wesley Johnson and Scott Taylor’s sketchy, low-brow, snicker-laden script, based on Bo Zenga and Chuck Wilson’s crude, repulsive, pointless story, is more scatologically offensive than funny. (Apropos of nothing, did you know that Snoop Dogg got his nickname when his mother told him he resembled the Peanuts character Snoopy?) On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Soul Plane” is a raunchy, rude 3. Try another carrier.
