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Now arriving at gate 411 is Soul Plane (R), with service for anyone who doesn't wish to see the world destroyed (The Day After Tomorrow) or sugar-coated (Raising Helen) this weekend. In his directorial debut, Jessy Terrero is taking the seen-it route, as in we've seen it before in the 1980 comedy classic, Airplane!
Not that it won't be funny again. Terrero adds hip-hop "flava" to the non-stop joke tactic, inspiring at least one terrific sight gag, an airliner bouncing on air shocks like a street cruiser. That and the notion of scene-stealer Snoop Dogg (Starsky and Hutch) piloting the plane are enough to put me on stand-by.
Soul Plane revolves around Nashawn Wade (Kevin Hart), winner of a $100-million settlement after an racially motivated airline incident. Nashawn uses the money to create NWA Airlines, featuring an on-board dance club, sexy flight attendants and a first-class section that operates like the champagne room at a nightclub.
On its first flight from Los Angeles to New York, the party plane encounters turbulence, which results in a midair crisis. The flight already has suffered one disaster with the casting of Tom Arnold, who could use a flotation device for his sinking film career.
A review of Soul Plane will be published on Friday's Page 2B.