IGN Got Soul Plane So Wrong and They Need to Be Shamed

OK, look. I enjoyed Soul Plane. There are very valid reasons why someone wouldn't. But we need to root our disagreements in a shared factual reality, and this IGN review from exactly(?*) 22 years ago is so farcically wrong, not to mention hypocritical, that the now "AI"-scamified outlet and its author Jeff Otto need to be called to account for it even now in 2026.

So here we go.

Jeff Otto starts out his review somewhat favorably, if a little backhandedly, describes the film's prelude and airport sequences, and concludes the first section thusly: 

The film's opening backstory is mildly amusing. It serves its purpose to set up the Soul Plane airline and what is to be their very first flight. Once we get through that, the film quickly finds a flow. The introduction to the NWA (that's the name of the airline) wing of the airport is a blast. I would be doing a disservice to give away any of the jokes, but suffice to say, this is a very different section of the airport than most frequent flyers are probably used to, a sort of urbanized, fashizzilized (is that a word?), macked out terminal. Many of the jokes are simple, many are actually quite clever, but either way, they provide the intended laughs. As we are introduced to the very different airline that is NWA, Soul Plane thrives on its ability not to take itself too seriously. 

Alright, can't argue with that, Jeff. A little ignorant, but I'm from the suburbs too, and it was ought'4. But after liftoff, the problems start to trickle in:

After liftoff, the problems start to trickle, then eventually flood in. First is the inclusion of Tom Arnold and his ultra-white family. With no creativity whatsoever, they are called The Hunkees and have just come from a visit to Crackerland. Hardee har har. God, could these jokes be any more obvious? In fact, they are so blatantly thoughtless that I guess they can't even be deemed offensive. The use of a typical white family as a one of the targets of the film's humor is a pathetic disgrace when compared to the wit of the film's humor in the beginning. Like so many comedians on Def Comedy Jam, when one runs out of fresh jokes, white jokes are an easy mark. 

OK, so first off: it's HILARIOUS that Tom Arnold's white family is called The Hunkees. Sorry this movie's humor isn't Marcel Marceau, or Sebastian Maniscalco, but that's funny as f***. Secondly: your outlook on this movie shifted real quick once they brought in the white stereotypes. I don't know, man, sounds like maybe you're the one who just came from a visit to "Crackerland" (👌). And I've never seen Def Comedy Jam except for the Bernie Mac set that I found about from Colin Jost, but I have the intellectual humility to admit it.

Next paragraph:

The overtly obvious group satire doesn't stop there. There is a gay flight attendant named Gaemon (another unoriginal and obvious name joke, played by comedian Godfrey). Later in the film, Gaemon parades around the airplane with other stereotypically gay passengers. When a Middle Eastern passenger attempts to board the plane, he is met with the shocked, frightened stares of the passengers and soon double teamed by the security officers who refer to him as, I'm sure you guessed it, Osama. 

So here we go with the "overtly obvious" factual errors, and another telling sign of the author's own views. Gaemon is not the gay flight attendant - it would be f***ed up if he were. He is the co-pilot. The gay man who "parades" around is Gary Anthony Williams' character. Starting to think Jeff Otto only watched clips of this movie.

[Sidebar...I actually met Gary Anthony Williams at a fundraiser for an LA City Council candidate around 2019 - not the candidate you think - but I didn't recognize him cause I hadn't heard he'd lost all that weight. He was really funny in retrospect, he was like - to me - "have I seen you somewhere before...?", and when he signed his name on the check-in form he was like "mmph!" and made like the pen was heavy]. 

And as far as the terrorist joke - look, it was wrong then and it's wrong now. Period.

But I was a kid in the post-9/11 period of this movie, and I flew with my mom once and there was a man on the plane - I think he was Sikh - with a turban on — and you better believe I was afraid for my life, I'm sorry folks, just telling it like it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  😎 😘 [my household went for Trump three times].

So then Jeff Otto criticizes the plotline about Kevin Hart's character's ex being on the flight for a paragraph, and follows up with this:

Even the filmmakers of Soul Plane have gone on record as saying that this is a movie that isn't supposed to be taken very seriously. How could they not heed their own advice when they made the film? The movie starts with clever spoofs of airport terminals, security and preflight safety checks. As it moves along, the only saving grace is the few castmembers (Mo'Nique, Snoop Dogg, Method Man, Sophia Vergara and Clarence Witherspoon) who really "get" what this movie is all about and keep the jokes free-flowing and silly. Unfortunately, these are the supporting players in the film and, to get to their funnier moments, we have to sit through the laughless Kevin Hart, Godfrey, D.L. Hughley (as a restroom attendant, a joke that SNL did better over a decade ago) and the Hunkee family. 

So if everybody in the cast and crew and audience is saying not to take this Blaxploitation parody of a parody of a "made-for-TV disaster movie from the ‘50s" seriously, why the hell are you getting so hot and bothered about it, and saying they don't "get" it, and giving s*** to all the actors except-

Wait, hold on a second...

CLARENCE Witherspoon? Did you mean JOHN Witherspoon, the legendary actor I know about from The Boondocks (to be fair, premiered the year after this movie)? And look - this is the SECOND time Jeff Otto made this mistake:

And let me get this straight, Jeff - you were complaining about this movie's white and gay and Middle Easterner stereotypes, but you say the movie was saved by Snoop Dogg, Mo'Nique, and Sofia Vergara?!

And that's SOFIA, with an "F", Jeff. It stands for fuckaas review.

Disgusting.

IGN - do better. Jeff Otto? Jeff Otto-asphyxiate yourself (👌👌👌).**

*According to the URL IGN's review's from 5/28/04. The article was last updated in 2020, Yogg knows why...I only looked up Soul Plane reviews cause I just had a dream where I had a Genius-style transcript and could easily find the part where Snoop Dogg or somebody calls Gaemon "gay dude"...

**I kid, it's been literally 22 years, this is insane.