OK, so a musical comedy starring Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson has got to be a step up from a Tyler Perry movie, right? For Sharon Leal's sake, I certainly hope so. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Leal has joined the cast of Malcolm Lee's comedy musical Soul Men. The film centers on, "...bickering backup soul singers who haven't spoken in 20 years but reluctantly travel cross country together for a tribute concert to honor their famous former band leader." Leal will play Jackson's daughter Cleo, and thankfully will not serve as a love interest for either of the men. Leal starred in 2005's Dreamgirls as Michelle Morris, Effie White's replacement in the girl-group. Jackson and Mac will do all of their own singing and dancing for Soul Men, so I can only assume that since Leal has musical experience, she will be doing the same.

Christopher had first brought us news of the film last November. At that time, the only cast that had been announced was King of Comedy, Mac and Jackson. Surprisingly the project managed to escape being hit by the writer's strike that has been delaying productions left and right, and is set to start filming on January 21st (I guess Leal was hired just in time). The script was written by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone, whose other credits included the Coen's Intolerable Cruelty and Man of the House -- neither of which is probably the best calling card for a screenwriter. Soul Men is scheduled for release on October 10th, 2008.

Those of you anxious to see Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac singing and dancing (without the aid of performance doubles) will be happy to know that Soul Men has not been affected by the strike. According to Variety, the musical road trip comedy is set to begin production January 21 with Undercover Brother director Malcolm D. Lee at the helm. Not to be confused with that beloved 1986 classic Soul Man starring C. Thomas Howell and Rae Dawn Chong, Soul MEN sounds more like a loose mix of The Blues Brothers and It Happened One Night (which one is Claudette Colbert, I wonder?). Written by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone (Man of the House), the movie will follow two estranged backup singers who are reunited after 20 years to pay homage to their recently deceased band leader.

It's pretty cool right now to get traditionally non-singing actors to perform their own vocals in musicals. Of course, it's a bit more exciting to think about Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd than Jackson and Mac in Soul Men. Chances are, the most interesting thing about this movie will be the few moments we get to actually see the duo performing, while the rest of the road trip banter will be uninspired and tedious. Maybe it's just easy to be skeptical because of Jackson's last antagonistic team up, with Eugene Levy, or Mac's team up with any one (rather than any eleven, or twelve, or thirteen). Considering not even the Coen Brothers with George Clooney were able to salvage a movie scripted by Ramsey and stone, there simply can't be much hope for Lee, Jackson and Mac.

Imagine musical reunification from the likes of A Mighty Wind, add in some traveling entertainment, perhaps like the upcoming Walk Hard, and top it off with a little soul. What do you get? Soul Men. Variety has reported that, believe it or not, Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac have signed on to star in the musical comedy. Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone, who penned Intolerable Cruelty, wrote the feature, which is about two men who used to be backup soul singers who were part of a famous group. They haven't been in contact with each other for 20 years, but when the band leader dies, they agree to reunite and travel together for a tribute reunion tour.

That's right -- Jackson will be singing and dancing right along with Mac, and it looks like they're going to do it to songs from the Stax Records catalog (unless that will just be background music). This is probably the last thing that I ever thought the Pulp Fiction star would be involved with, especially since Mac's starring flicks don't work half as well as his ensemble stints (Guess Who -vs- the Ocean's series). Nevertheless, we'll soon see him belting out the tunes and being wacky with Mac. While I'd like to see Jackson singing on-stage, I'm not so sure about this whole plan. How about you? Are you ready for Sam and Bernie, the soul singers?