Eddie Murphy stars in Boomerang, a romantic comedy from 1992 about an advertising executive whose womanizing ways are challenged when he finally falls in love.
Marcus Graham (Eddie Murphy) is successful and very good at his job but his love life is a constant string of girlfriends he nitpicks to death, then dumps. When his company is acquired, he begins a relationship with his new boss but finds that being on the other side of his own tactics is not much fun at all. As that relationship slowly crumbles, he develops real feelings towards colleague Angela (Halle Berry) but how he accepts and deals with these feelings proves itself to be the real challenge.
A different kind of project for Murphy, being a rom-com, Boomerang was a successful film for the star who showed he could apply his style of comedy to yet another kind of story. With a strong supporting cast that includes Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, David Alan Grier, Eartha Kitt and the ever-reliably eccentric Grace Jones, Boomerang is a funny film throughout as it manages to be a solid Murphy vehicle without feeling too wild or cartoonish. The themes tackled here (infidelity, commitment) are explored in an interesting way and, while the film doesn't go too deeply into them, it gives both Marcus and us plenty to think about. It works, despite the film too often feeling like an excuse to show its star get together with one pretty girl after another.
While Marcus is a womanizer and should come off as extremely unsympathetic and insecure as he goes through what is basically a midlife crisis, Eddie Murphy plays him with enough subtlety that you do care about this guy and look forward to him growing up. There's a clear vulnerability to Marcus and this, coupled with Murphy's effortless charm, plus the fact that the character gets a taste of his own medicine, makes him relatable. Unfortunately, the film seems reluctant to teach him too many harsh lessons as his puppy dog eyes save the day time and time again. It would have been refreshing to see the man feel what he's been making others feel a little more and, perhaps, not have him get what he wants by the end.
While Boomerang isn't Eddie Murphy's most hilarious movie, it remains a funny, sharply written piece with a likable cast and good intentions, even if it regrettably shies away from delivering the emotional punch this movie very much needed.
Enjoyable enough.
Marcus Graham (Eddie Murphy) is successful and very good at his job but his love life is a constant string of girlfriends he nitpicks to death, then dumps. When his company is acquired, he begins a relationship with his new boss but finds that being on the other side of his own tactics is not much fun at all. As that relationship slowly crumbles, he develops real feelings towards colleague Angela (Halle Berry) but how he accepts and deals with these feelings proves itself to be the real challenge.
A different kind of project for Murphy, being a rom-com, Boomerang was a successful film for the star who showed he could apply his style of comedy to yet another kind of story. With a strong supporting cast that includes Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, David Alan Grier, Eartha Kitt and the ever-reliably eccentric Grace Jones, Boomerang is a funny film throughout as it manages to be a solid Murphy vehicle without feeling too wild or cartoonish. The themes tackled here (infidelity, commitment) are explored in an interesting way and, while the film doesn't go too deeply into them, it gives both Marcus and us plenty to think about. It works, despite the film too often feeling like an excuse to show its star get together with one pretty girl after another.
While Marcus is a womanizer and should come off as extremely unsympathetic and insecure as he goes through what is basically a midlife crisis, Eddie Murphy plays him with enough subtlety that you do care about this guy and look forward to him growing up. There's a clear vulnerability to Marcus and this, coupled with Murphy's effortless charm, plus the fact that the character gets a taste of his own medicine, makes him relatable. Unfortunately, the film seems reluctant to teach him too many harsh lessons as his puppy dog eyes save the day time and time again. It would have been refreshing to see the man feel what he's been making others feel a little more and, perhaps, not have him get what he wants by the end.
While Boomerang isn't Eddie Murphy's most hilarious movie, it remains a funny, sharply written piece with a likable cast and good intentions, even if it regrettably shies away from delivering the emotional punch this movie very much needed.
Enjoyable enough.