Boomerang

One of Eddie Murphy's best performances in one of his least seen films was the 1992 winner BOOMERANG. This smart and sophisticated romantic comedy stars Eddie as Marcus Graham, a womanizing advertising executive who loves the thrill of the chase where women are concerned, but once he has completed the chase, he is ready to move on. His sexual exploits have made him the center of his circle of friends (Martin Lawrence, a paranoid racist, and David Alan Grier, an insecure milquetoast)who live vicariously through him and admire his style as the ultimate player. Everything changes for Marcus when he acquires a new boss named Jacqueline (Robin Givens), Marcus is enamored of Jacqueline, but is completely thrown by the fact that Jacqueline is a female version of himself, a player who avoids commitment and uses Marcus when it is convenient for her. Throw into the mix another co-worker of Marcus named Angela (Halle Berry) who is nuts about him, but he doesn't know she's alive. Everything works here and it is so refreshing to see a movie with a predominately black cast where the characters are people with brains and real jobs. Murphy exudes mass amounts of sex appeal in one of his best roles and Halle Berry, though allegedly playing a plain Jane, just couldn't come off that way if she tried. There are some wonderful comic bits contributed along the way by Grace Jones, Geoffrey Holder, Tisha Campbell, and the legendary Eartha Kitt, memorable as an aging cosmetics queen with the hots for Marcus. A winning and original take on the Battle of the Sexes that is entertaining from start to finish.

There are a lot of top black actors in this movie. Halle Berry, Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, even Chris Rock. It was cool to see them all working together and I had a good laugh throughout the movie. A lot of famous lines come from this movie and I had no idea. Good old school Eddie flick.

Somewhere in the realms of time i remember seeing Boomerang and not being that impressed by it. I decided to give it another rewatch and still come to the same conclusion, this is a poor Eddie Murphy film. The frustrating thing is this had the potential to be a good, funny film. It has an amazing cast including not only Murphy, but Robin Givens, Halle Berry, Grace Jones and Martin Lawrence. The problem with the film is it is directed flatly giving the whole look and feel of a tv sitcom. The script is weak and unfunny and the film is far too long at nearly 2 hours long. The cast do there best with the weak script but cannot salvage the film. Lawrence is completley wasted in a supporting role. Ultimately Boomerang feels like a film where Murphy called the shots rather than the director and at the height of Murphys ego and popularity someone should have reigned him in. Boomerang is watchable but a mean spirited film and perhaps should only be viewed the once.

A few things seems weird about the IMDb reviews of this movie, to bring it down to a 5.4 ratings. 1. It's funny how a lot of reviewers remember walking out of the theaters, when they wrote their reviews 12...15...17 years after the movie was released. Like it was a personal vendetta against Eddie Murphy and the Hudlin brothers. 2. The movie, in 1992, was actually quite popular and didn't get panned by critics. So, it's funny to see so many 1 ratings, and people reviewing it as if it were the worst movie ever made. 3. I've always heard the rumors (and witnessed it myself) that IMDb reviewers don't seem to like popular black movies or TV shows. Seems like trolls, from entities other than those that make black productions, want to discourage potential viewers from seeing something other than their own creations.

My review: A very good rom-com with a great cast of old favorites and legends.

A marketing executive quickly learns that what comes around, goes around when this Don Juan's new boss turns out to be a Don Juan-ita. Eddie Murphy gives the finest performance of his career as Marcus, a player who meets his match with Robin Givens, but finds love in Halle Berry. Murphy barely drops the F-bomb in the film and the character is well developed by Murphy himself, who had a hand in the writing credits for the film. A fun film that features a great supporting cast of David Allen Grier, Martin Lawrence and John Witherspoon.