Matt Watson, played by Thomas C. Howell, is a college senior from Los Angeles who just opened up his acceptance letter from Harvard Law School. Everything is looking up for him until his wealthy father has a sudden change of heart on the advice of his psychiatrist. He will no longer be funding Matt’s education and will instead be investing in a Barbados timeshare for himself. After futile attempts at taking out a loan and convincing the psychiatrist to persuade his father to reconsider, Matt has given up hope on his dream. That is until he remembers something that his best friend Gordo mentioned earlier – the Henry Q. Bouchard Scholarship… for the most qualified, black applicant in Los Angeles. Yes, Matt Watson is a white man. You know exactly where this is going.

With his skin artificially darkened by exceeding the suggested intake of experimental tanning pills and by rationalizing that he wasn’t actually taking the scholarship from a student who was more deserving, Matt makes his way to Massachusetts – to the school of his dreams, Harvard Law. “These are the 80’s, man. It’s the Cosby decade! America loves black people.”

Upon his arrival, Matt tries to fit in as a black man which in practice means he performs a number of racial stereotypes such as calling his professor, played by James Earl Jones, his “brother.” Stereotypes such as African Americans outperforming white people in basketball are played for laughs when both captains fight over having Matt on their team, only for him to be comically bad. This basketball scene also drags on for nearly four minutes. At one point in the movie, Matt has dinner with a wealthy white family. The meal is spliced together with clips of Matt acting out the family’s stereotypes of him, which include him acting like Prince, like a watermelon-eating pimp, and even just aggressively sexual. From the racist landlord who is actively seeking out reasons to evict him to the landlord’s daughter who fetishizes his race to even being arrested for no reason and beaten by bigots in jail, it dawns on Matt that maybe the “Cosby decade” isn’t quite what he had expected.

The climax of the movie comes after Matt learns the student he has fallen in love with would have earned the scholarship he stole. He decides to forfeit it in front of a special Harvard law tribunal. Somehow he still ends up with the girl that he wronged. Despite her being clearly upset with him over betraying her trust and stealing her tuition, she swoons when he sucker punches a couple of bigots that made racist jokes.

Unlike Saturday Night Fever, believe it or not, Soul Man was not critically acclaimed. It’s Rotten Tomatoes critic score is a measly 13%. Needless to say, Soul Man is not a must see film and may in fact be a must not see. Despite criticizing racism and stereotypes throughout the film, it consistently plays them for laughs. Additionally, Mark Watson is anything but a sympathetic protagonist. He is unpleasant from the beginning which makes it hard to support his growth by the end of the movie. No offense.