Review: Sci-fi drama ’96 Souls’ is straight-faced silly

In “96 Souls,” writer-director Stanley Jacobs undertakes the difficult task of executing a completely nutty premise with absolute sincerity. It’s the tale of a scientist, Dr. Jack Sutree (Grinnell Morris), who has been working on a “Smell-o-Vision” of sorts — a breakthrough that would enable one to see smells, for combating malaria and dengue, of course.

Dr. Sutree exposes himself to the compound in a lab accident, and suddenly he’s empowered with the ability to visualize smells. But things get even kookier when the ashes of his dead dog are blown into his eyes and suddenly he can see people’s inner selves.

Equipped with this “Soul-o-Vision,” Dr. Sutree sets to repairing various problems in his life: reconnecting with his estranged wife, helping a young homeless woman, Bazemint Tape (Toyin Moses), find her long-lost mother, and vetting possible jury members for an upcoming trial involving the corporate funders of his lab experiments.

The premise is insane and the story is bedeviled by unnecessary subplots. It does in two hours what a superhero film could cover in 20 minutes. The amateurish acting and cheesy special effects don’t help. But what’s most curious about “96 Souls” is its utterly earnest tone — it doesn’t recognize its own outlandishness and instead turns this wacky sci-fi concept into a film about solving homelessness through humanity (and Soul-o-Vision). Jacobs simply can’t make any of it work.

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‘96 Souls’

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills

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