Boomerang (1992) starring Eddie Murphy, Robin Givens, Halle Berry, David Alan Grier, Martin Lawrence, Grace Jones, Geoffrey Holder, Chris Rock directed by Reginald Hudlin Movie Review

Boomerang (1992)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Eddie Murphy as Marcus in Boomerang (1992)

Some Kind of Eddie Murphy

When "Boomerang" starts we enter the life of advertising exec Marcus Graham a real ladies man, in fact he is the ultimate ladies man, surrounded by beautiful women and alongside a handful of mates has a secretary who does the dirty work of sending flowers for him. It's over the top and it all most feels like Eddie Murphy's ego has got the better of him because it seems like a movie all about him and hot women, well when he isn't talking to his mates who refer to hitting that and bitches. But "Boomerang" evolves and what it evolves into seems like not a bad movie where we have Marcus getting a taste of his own medicine before dealing with a romantic love triangle, not so different to "Some Kind of Wonderful". And that is the irony of "Boomerang" because it goes from seeming like an ego trip into one with a story it seems good when truth be told it is only average.

Advertising exec, Marcus Graham (Eddie Murphy - Coming to America) has life sorted, he can pick up any woman he fancies and surrounds himself with pretty women where he works. But that all changes when the company is taken over and first he finds himself duped into bed by Lady Eloise (Eartha Kitt) and then discovers he is to be working for the smoking hot Jacqueline (Robin Givens) who uses men like he uses women. Frustrated by the fact that whilst he is falling for Jacqueline she thinks of him as a sex toy he finds deeper friendship with artist Angela (Halle Berry - X-Men: The Last Stand) except he still can't get Jacqueline out of his head.

Halle Berry and Robin Givens in Boomerang (1992)

So as already mentioned "Boomerang" starts in such away it borders on a vanity project powered by Eddie Murphy's ego. We have hot women, we have him chatting them up, we have him talking about bitches to his mates and all seems frankly quite crass. But the thing is that all of this whilst seeming to be ego driven has a point when Marcus finds himself being treated the same way as he treats women and it hurts him. I wouldn't say it is clever but entertaining when compared to the opening, especially when it becomes apparent that Jacqueline is using him as stress release.

The thing is that after such a brash opening the fact a storyline evolves makes it feel good when in truth what evolves is just a play on "Some Kind of Wonderful". So we have Marcus growing close to Angela and ending up becoming lovers but the whole time there is still Jacqueline playing on his mind. That is all there is to it so at some point you know Marcus will mess things up but in doing so learning the truth about who he really likes.

Now "Boomerang" is classed as a sex comedy and yes there is plenty of sexual references and a few sex scenes going on but it doesn't really make it a sex comedy. In fact the only bit of genuine sex comedy for me is when Marcus finds himself being duped into bed by the man eating Eloise, a scene which features Eartha Kitt prowling around him and purring. Beyond that well it is just the usual sort of comedy you will find in an Eddie Murphy movie with the added elements of roles for Chris Rock as a jive talking mail boy and Martin Lawrence as a colleague with deep founded race issues. It isn't that funny and whilst seeing Murphy, Rock and Lawrence in the same movie means there is a lot of loud comedy it is nowhere near the best that each of these have done.

As for Murphy himself well it is genuinely a decent performance because get past the seemingly ego fuelled opening and we have a toned down performance. Watching Marcus go from brash womanizer to one destroyed by being treated the way he treats others allows Murphy to deliver smaller laughs rather than big hyena cackles and it is quite good. And to be honest whilst I am sure that Robin Givens and Halle Berry were cast because of their looks both deliver adequate performances and characters.

What this all boils down to is that after such an ego filled opening "Boomerang" appears to come good as the storyline forms. But truth be told it is a storyline which has been done before and often just delivers the sort of humour you would expect from an Eddie Murphy movie.


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