Boomerang (1992 film)

Boomerang is a 1992 American romantic comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin. The film stars Eddie Murphy as Marcus Graham, a hotshot advertising executive who also happens to be an insatiable womanizer and male chauvinist. When he meets his new boss, Jacqueline Broyer (Robin Givens), Marcus discovers that she is essentially a female version of himself, and realizes he is receiving the same treatment that he delivers to others. The film also features Halle Berry, David Alan Grier, Martin Lawrence, Grace Jones, and Chris Rock.

Murphy assisted in developing the story with writers Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield, having worked with the writing duo since his days on Saturday Night Live. Murphy hired Hudlin to direct Boomerang, following the latter's success with his debut film House Party (1990). Hudlin and the writers aimed to create a romantic comedy that differed strongly from Murphy's previous comic efforts. Filming took place mainly in New York City, while other scenes were filmed in Washington, D.C.

Boomerang was released in the United States on July 1, 1992. The film was the 18th highest-grossing film in North America that year. Boomerang earned over $131 million worldwide during its theatrical run. The film garnered nominations at the BMI Film & TV Awards and the MTV Movie Awards, while its soundtrackbecame a top-selling album.

Plot
Advertisement executive Marcus Graham tells his assistant to send flowers to nine different women, with cards reading "thinking only of you" indicating his lifestyle of dating multiple women at once. It's quickly established that Marcus won't consider settling down because he believes he hasn't met the perfect woman yet. His friends tell him that his standards are too high referencing his habit of judging women by their feet.

The next day, Marcus meets Lady Eloise, who will soon be acquiring the company in a business merger. She suggests that Marcus may be promoted and invites him to her home. Marcus realizes she intends to have sex with him, and, thinking of the promotion, spends the night with her. The next day at work, he meets Jacqueline Broyer (Robin Givens), a beautiful woman who tells Marcus that Lady Eloise is a figurehead who uses her image to her advantage. Marcus realizes that Jacqueline is going to be given the job he wanted and will soon become his boss.

At the merger party, Marcus tells his friends Tyler and Gerard he is considering resigning over not getting the promotion. While there, Jacqueline introduces him to Angela Lewis, who works in the art department, and tells him the two of them should be working together. Everyone is introduced to Strangé, the wild fashion diva who has been chosen as the new face of Lady Eloise Cosmetics. While looking for Jacqueline, Marcus bumps into Angela, and when he spots Jacqueline, introduces Angela to Gerard so that he can go and catch up with her. Though Jacqueline tells him she does not date co-workers, Marcus believes he will be the exception because of his arrogance and her flirtatiousness.

Jacqueline tells Marcus they should go over some of their work together, and Marcus suggests they do it at his place over dinner. Marcus gets frustrated that Jacqueline is so unaffected by his seduction techniques that he begrudgingly agrees to her suggestion of watching t.v. while they eat. She is more interested in the basketball game on television and pays no attention to Marcus. Eventually the two are sent on a business trip to New Orleans where they went out together to a dance club. Marcus dances too flirtatiously with Jacqueline, so she abruptly suggests they leave. Upon returning to the hotel, after a moment of Marcus fumbling with his key, Jacqueline invites him to her room and they have sex thus beginning their sexual relationship. Later that evening, he wakes up in the middle of the night to look at Jacqueline's feet to make sure they meet his standards and is excited to see she has beautiful feet. Happily he goes back to sleep and thinks he has met the perfect woman.

Marcus unexpectedly falls for Jacqueline who keeps him at a distance by being available on her terms, manipulates with him sex and on one occasion leaves $200 on the nightstand to repay him for inconveniencing him. While he feels he is falling in love, he does not understand how she can be so careless and inconsiderate about his feelings even though he has always treated women with the same callousness. After Marcus discovers Jacqueline has discussed their personal business with Strangé, he tells Jacqueline they should take a break for a while. Jacqueline bluntly tells Marcus, "It's over." Back in the office he finds himself the subject of the office women's finger pointing and snickering, so he quickly realizes that he is a topic of discussion. Everyone is surprised "the player got played". Distraught about their breakup, Marcus' work ethic begins to lag, and after he ruins a major business proposal Jacqueline gives him a few weeks off work to get himself together.

Marcus hangs out with Angela, who tries to bring him out of his funk. On Thanksgiving, Marcus, Angela, Tyler, Gerard, and Gerard's parents meet for dinner. While eating, Angela and Gerard deny being a couple when Gerard's father assumes they are. When everyone else leaves, Marcus and Angela clean up and fall asleep on the couch together. When they wake up, the two begin kissing and eventually sleep together signaling the beginning of their relationship. Later the two of them present a new ad to Jacqueline and it quickly becomes obvious to her that something is going on between Marcus and Angela because of their body language and shared looks. While out with Gerard and Tyler, Marcus sheepishly tells Gerard he and Angela are going out together, which upsets Gerard, because he thinks Angela is too good for him. Eventually Marcus and Angela enter into a serious relationship and she moves in with him. He seems to be over Jacqueline until she calls him one morning to tell him about the success of the revised Strangé ad. Angela becomes upset that he downplays the reason for her being in his apartment by telling Jacqueline, "she just stopped by".

Marcus, now much more relaxed, confident and less needy, becomes very attractive to Jacqueline again. He easily falls for Jacqueline's flirtation, so the two sleep together causing him to get home in the middle of the night. He sneaks in the bed thinking Angela was asleep, but unbeknownst to him, she opens her eyes when he gets in the bed. The next day, Angela confronts Marcus about his whereabouts. Upset that Marcus explains to Angela he is confused by his feelings for Jacqueline, but also cares for her, Angela immediately breaks up with him after telling him he knows nothing about love. Marcus rebounds with Jacqueline; however, he quickly realizes his feelings for her are not the same as his love for Angela so he abruptly ends a foreplay session with Jacqueline and walks out on her. Later, Marcus talks to Gerard, and Gerard tells him that Angela got a promotion at a new company. Marcus apologizes to Gerard, and the two make up for their argument. He goes to Angela's new job, and though at first she is very cold towards him, she finally forgives him, and the two get back together.

Cast

 * Eddie Murphy as Marcus Graham
 * Robin Givens as Jacqueline Broyer
 * Halle Berry as Angela Lewis
 * David Alan Grier as Gerard Jackson
 * Martin Lawrence as Tyler Hawkins
 * Grace Jones as Helen Strangé
 * Geoffrey Holder as Nelson
 * Eartha Kitt as Lady Eloise
 * Chris Rock as Bony T
 * Tisha Campbell as Yvonne
 * Lela Rochon as Christie

Development
Eddie Murphy created the original idea for the film, which he took to writers Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield, both of whom he had been working with during his days at Saturday Night Live. After they finished the first draft of the script and were given the greenlight on the project, Murphy offered the directing job to Reginald Hudlin, who had previously found critical and commercial success with his debut film House Party. For Boomerang, Hudlin said that, from a creative standpoint, he really wanted to take Murphy "somewhere where he's never been before," and that he and the writers' goal was to "put Eddie through paces. To have him have an arc like most characters in movies do, where he's not just the Br'er Rabbit character starting trouble," and to put him in a situation that "allows him to have a genuine obstacle."

Woody Omens, the cinematographer of the film, was insisted upon by Murphy, who had previously worked with him on Harlem Nights. Earl Watson worked as the film's main editor, and had previously worked with Hudlin on House Party. Francine Jamison-Tanchuck worked as the film's costume designer.

The intention was to give Murphy's character Marcus Graham a cool, yet sophisticated style. "So typically when it comes to black characters, either you have to be a successful, smart business person, or you're hip, but you're never both," said Hudlin. "And one of the reasons why the movie has had such enduring popularity is because the character is both. He's much more in the Cary Grant mode of business person." While working on the characterization of the main character, Hudlin came up with the foot gag, which was used as a plot device to show the arc of the character's growth. It originated from a joke between the director and his friends about a man who's so picky about women that he even looks at their back teeth. "So it's like, how do we define that Eddie's a back teeth kind of guy? So I came upon the idea of showing feet. That no matter how beautiful this woman is, if she has messed up feet, he's out of there." Also, Hudlin said that "we know he's evolved into a higher level of consciousness when he doesn't even notice what Halle Berry's feet look like." The character Angela's art class was an idea the filmmakers had to put Murphy in a context where he could interact with kids, which he hadn't done prior to this film.

The cast rehearsed for two weeks before production started, which the director said "really created that sense of team, and everyone playing off each other and everyone having that comfort level." Murphy even told Hudlin that he hadn't rehearsed since his days at SNL, and that he was going to rehearse for all of his movies from then on.

The scene in which Marcus changes his mind while with Jacqueline was a major rewrite to the script. According to Hudlin, in the original draft, Eddie's character Marcus "never decides anything, things are decided for him by the different women. So, we finally realized he had to make an affirmative choice. Going through the script with a buddy of mine, we talked about it, and my buddy Tre said 'look, he's got to make a decision.' And I said, 'you're right. He's got to reject her, and choose her.' And it seems so obvious now, I'm like 'what's wrong with me? What was wrong with all of us that it took us so long to figure out what we really needed to do to fix the movie?'[2]

Casting
Hudlin knew immediately that he wanted Halle Berry for the role of Angela after she came in and did the reading, and was nervous that Murphy wouldn't like her. Berry had appeared in a couple of films prior to being cast in Boomerang. However, after Berry performed her screen test, Murphy told Hudlin "well, that's it. There's no need to see the other two actresses because she's the part." Executives at Paramount Pictures were nervous about Robin Givens being cast in such a major role in the film, as she was disliked by many in the general public at the time because of her past relationship with Mike Tyson. Hudlin however, "thought that actually made her perfect for the role, that she was this formidable person, and a match for Eddie Murphy, who also had an increpid reputation as a ladies' man. So, I wanted the audience to feel like this would be a fair fight."

David Alan Grier and Martin Lawrence were cast as Murphy's best friends in the film. At the time, Grier was well known for the show In Living Color. About him, Hudlin said, "I think he is an absolutely underrated genius. I think he is Steve Martin level funny, and it's too bad more people don't know how to use his comic gift, because he is absolutely brilliant." Lawrence was brought on to the project after first working with Hudlin on House Party, which was his first major role in a film. Bebe Drake-Massey and John Witherspoon had played a couple in House Party, and were reunited for the film, this time playing the character Gerard's parents. Tisha Campbell also worked with Hudlin on House Party, and was brought on board to play Murphy's obnoxious, and somewhat obsessive, neighbor. While on the set, Hudlin would always rave about Campbell and Lawrence, and Murphy suggested Hudlin do a film with the two of them. Lawrence, who was developing his television show at the time, overheard the two actors talking, and decided to cast Campbell as his girlfriend and later wife, Gina, for his hit sitcom Martin.

Grace Jones was cast in a role that was essentially written as a parody of herself. Of her work ethic, Hudlin said that "she was always 100% committed, and would do the absolute craziest thing at any given time. She was absolutely perfect for the role. It was written for her, and she came in very humble, very sweet."

Eartha Kitt was the hardest person to cast for the film, as she was somewhat offended by her character's tone in the original script. Eventually she accepted the role, after some of the more tasteless jokes in the script were changed or removed. Hudlin however did say that "she was great to work with," and that "she really got into the spirit of it, and was a lot of fun."

Lela Rochon, who was known for her role in Murphy's 1989 film Harlem Nights, was brought back for a small role in Boomerang. Chris Rock, who was a protege of Murphy's, and had acted in small roles in a few other films at the time, was also given a bit part. The role of Lady Eloise's butler was played by Jonathan Hicks, a friend of the director's, who replaced a sick actor at the last minute. Hicks was a reporter for The New York Times, not an actor, and took the role as a favor to Hudlin.[3]

Three of the actors in this film have starred in the James Bond 007 films. This includes Geoffrey Holder (Baron Samedi from the film Live and Let Die), Grace Jones (May Day from the film A View to a Kill), and Halle Berry (Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson from the film Die Another Day).

Filming
The majority of the film was shot in New York City during the winter. Although it was very cold, the director said that it was still "great to actually be in the city and get that authentic New York flavor." Most of the film was done on real location as well. Interior scenes which took place at Marcus' workplace were shot in the old Univision building that had been repainted for production. The scene in Lady Eloise's bedroom was shot at the Park Plaza Hotel, in a suite personally redesigned by Ivana Trump, which accounts for the unique styling.

Although director Hudlin was willing to let his actors improvise, he made sure to keep boundaries and rules to it, so that the jokes wouldn't lead to nowhere. He explained that once the actors "get a sense that someone will tell them if something doesn't work, or that we're getting too far afield, then they feel comfortable doing what they do. So, that's the balance that we struck."

Production went very well, and as expected with so many comic actors and personalities around, was very lively. During production, Hudlin said that whenever David Alan Grier and Martin Lawrence worked, the film's crew usually worked a little slower because wherever they were, there would be so much comedy being generated and they were so funny that everyone wanted to hang out near where they were throughout the day. In the scene where the new fragrance is being presented to Strangé, the director said that "what Grace was doing on the set while we were shooting was so funny that I remember Halle crying off camera, cause she was trying to keep a straight face but she couldn't. So whenever she was off-camera, she would just be literally crying because she was laughing so hard. And fortunately, for her reaction shots she was able to recover."

An extra scene, involving Jones taking off her chain-metal dress which is ringing off the metal detectors and walking through them naked, was shot in Newark Airport. However, the filmmakers felt it to be too shocking, to the point where it threw the rhythm of the picture off, so they only used it in the small clip being edited for the perfume commercial.

The scene late in the film where Grier, Lawrence, and Murphy hug in front of the Empire State Building was shot around one or two o'clock in the morning, when the lights are usually shut off. If the filmmakers had them shut off at their command, it would have cost them $40–$60,000, so instead Hudlin had the three hug, and the lights were eventually shut off as usual. When editing the film, they simply reversed the footage to make it appear as if the lights were being turned on. The filmmakers even thought about ending the movie at this point, deciding instead to go with Marcus attempting to win back Angela's affection. For this, an alternate ending was shot where Angela is teaching the kids at the school and Marcus comes, talks to her and eventually wins her back; the filmmakers thought it was slow and uninteresting, and eventually came up with the released version.

Near the production's end, some scenes that still needed to be shot were done in Washington, D.C., where Murphy was also shooting The Distinguished Gentleman. Originally, some of the film was to take place in the Caribbean, and scenes were to be shot there. However, the setting was changed to New Orleans, and the scenes taking place there were shot in D.C.[2]

Music
See also: Boomerang (soundtrack)

Marcus Miller produced the original score for the film, while Antonio "L. A." Reidand Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds worked on the soundtrack. With such a wealth of new material, director Hudlin said, "sometimes we used score, sometimes we'd use a song by L.A. and Face, or sometimes Marcus would take some of the songs they had written and do score interpolations of it. For example, one of the songs, "Love Shoulda Brought You Home", is a great example. That came from a line of dialogue where Halle is furious with Eddie, says 'love should've brought your ass home last night,' slaps him. At that time, L.A. leans over to me and goes 'that's a great song title.' I said, 'great idea.' They write a song, "Love Shoulda Brought You Home". I said, 'well, who we going to get to sing it?' And they said 'well you know, we've got this great young singer who sang the demo, Reggie. If you like the demo then we can use her.' And I said 'great, let's use her.' So that was Toni Braxton's debut. And I remember when I finally met Toni at Babyface's wedding, L.A. said, 'you owe your career to this guy, he gave you your big break,' which was really sweet."[2]

The soundtrack album reached the number 4 spot on the Billboard 200, and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[4] It included multiple singles that charted in their own right, the most successful of which was Boyz II Men's "End of the Road", which went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart,[5] and stayed there for thirteen weeks, breaking Elvis Presley's previous record of eleven weeks with his version of "Hound Dog".

Design
The production was very demanding, including an expensive wardrobe budget, which Hudlin felt was completely worth the price. "The clothing in the movie is incredible, for both the men and the women. Eddie looks great, Robin and Halle look great. Great hair, great makeup work for all concerned, cause we wanted it to look fantastic. We wanted to give people a level of production value they hadn't seen for Eddie's first foray into true romantic comedy."[2]

Influences
François Truffaut's Jules and Jim was an influence on the story arc between the characters Angela, Gerard and Marcus. Director Hudlin explained, "I remember when I saw Jules and Jim when I was a kid, and that awkward, awkward feeling of two guys, one has a better time with girls than the other, and they both fall in love with the same woman. And I remember the agony of watching the emotional stakes of that picture. And, this is just a fun movie, not trying to compare myself to Truffaut on any level, but, at least, that's what inspired the moment."

The pacing and rhythm of Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday was a big influence on the pictures style. Woody Allen's Annie Hall was also very influential while Hudlin worked on the project because, according to Hudlin, "if you talk about contemporary romantic comedy, you're really talking about Annie Hall."[2]

Box office
On its opening weekend, the film earned $13,640,706, and ranked #3 at the box office.[6] It also ranked #3 the two following weekends.[7] By the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed over $70 million domestically, and $61 million outside of the U.S., making a total of $131,052,444. It was the 18th highest-grossing film in the U.S. in 1992.[8]

Critical reception
At Allmovie, the film was given 2½ stars, and called "imbalanced" and "uneven."[9] On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 44%, based on 34 reviews, and an average rating of 4.9/10.[10]On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[11]

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film and its stars positive reviews, calling the movie "predictable but enjoyable all the same."[12] In 2005, the film was ranked number 21 on BET's Top 25 Movies In the Last 25 Years list.[13]

Awards and nominations

 * 1993 BMI Film & TV Awards
 * Most Performed Song from a Film: Antonio "L.A." Reid, Daryl Simmons, and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds for End of the Road (winner)
 * Most Performed Song from a Film: Antonio "L.A." Reid, Daryl Simmons, and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds for End of the Road (winner)


 * 1993 MTV Movie Awards
 * Best Breakthrough Performance: Halle Berry (nominated)
 * Best Comedic Performance: Eddie Murphy (nominated)
 * Best Movie Song: Boyz II Men, End of the Road (nominated)
 * Most Desirable Female: Halle Berry (nominated)
 * Most Desirable Female: Halle Berry (nominated)