REEL CRITICS:

drug assemblies at high schools promoting their product.

But they land in trouble after getting too amped up on their own supply. They are sentenced to community service supervised by a crusty woman as the program coordinator. She has a checkered past and no shame in revealing the details of her previous depravity. She requires them to mentor two juvenile delinquents.

One is a foul-mouthed, antisocial misfit. The other is a total nerd obsessed with a role-playing game patterned after Dungeons and Dragons. There are amusing moments and several good laughs as the plot plays out. But the last half of the movie takes a turn to the ridiculous.

Fans of “Knocked Up” and “The 40 Year Old Virgin” will find familiar territory here. But what starts out as sharp sarcasm ends up as lame formula that gets less funny as the film wears on.

‘Soul Men’ bicker in humorous flick

If you’re a fan of the Motown sound and/or the late great Bernie Mac, you’ll enjoy the brash comedy “Soul Men.”

As former Motown-style backup singers of a group called The Real Deal, Floyd (Mac) and Louis (Samuel Jackson) reunite when their superstar lead singer (John Legend) dies.

Time has not been good to them — Floyd’s had a hip replacement and was dumped in a retirement community by his nephew. Louis served prison time and works in a grimy auto shop. Scheduled to appear at a tribute concert, they embark on a cross-country trip to Harlem — bickering, singing, picking up chicks and occasionally making us laugh.

The high points are whenever Floyd and Louis perform their old “hits” with dazzling precision, and it’s clear they’re enjoying the moves and grooves to some classic-style R&B.; If only they could have had more moments on stage than cussing each other out the rest of the time.

Bernie Mac had a gleefully raucous sense of humor, and in that respect this film is a fitting tribute to his comedic gifts. But a lot of the movie’s laughs aim for the groin, so to speak, and it would have been nice to have given these two old pros a classier script.

There’s a lovely, heartfelt tribute to Mac and also to Isaac Hayes, in his final film role, over the ending credits.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.