Boomerang/Harlem Nights
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DVD details
Artist: Artist Not ProvidedBrand: Boomerang
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 231 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-07-01
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of Boomerang/Harlem Nights
DVD Review: Two reviews for the price of none.
Summary: 5 Stars
Man has this movie aged well. Boomerang was crass, raunchy, vulgar and funny as hell to boot. It was Eddie Murphy in top form just the way we like him.
Plot/story: Marcus Graham(Eddie Murphy) is a marketing executive with a player mentality who meets his match with a gorgeous boss by the name of Jacqueline(Robin Givens). Marcus eventually tries to cope after getting p-whipped and played by Jacqueline.
Opinion: Boomerang was funny as hell back then as it is funny now. The interactions between Eddie Murphy, David Alan Grier and Martin Lawrence characters are funny as hell. Grace Jones's character Strange' is a riot. I still lmao at the restaurant scene where Strange' loudly proclaims her favorite part of the female anatomy 20 times in front of everybody. Eartha Kitt's Lady Eloise is a hoot also. John Weatherspoon is just as funny as David Alan Grier's character's father. Boomerang works because it doesnt just rely on the comics being funny alone(like most comedies do). Its material is funny in its raunchiness and the chemistry between everybody works. I would strongly recommend this movie any day over the recent busts that Eddie Murphy has starred in. 5 stars.
Harlem Nights is a vanity project and vanity projects usually stink. Now I wont go as far as to say that Harlem Nights stinks because it doesnt but when you think about all the talent that was involved it is disappointing.
Plot: Sugar Ray(Richard Pryor) and Quick(Eddie Murphy)run a nightclub in Harlem and have to end up dealing with a crooked cop called Phil Cantone(Danny Aiello) and jealous night club owner called Bugsy Calhoun(Michael Lerner).
Opinion: Harlem Nights is funny in the first 30 minutes and somewhere in the middle of the movie. The problem is that humor misses more than hits most of the time. When it becomes conscious that it was supposed to be a comedy it tries too hard and ends up falling flat. Two examples: the scene where Arsenio Hall and his goons square off with Quick is just painfully unfunny. The scene where Vera(Della Reese) fights Quick is not only weak but it is the most overrated scene in the whole movie(everybody who talks about Harlem Nights always brings up that scene). The only scene that was slightly funny was watching Quick's face when he gets hit(he looks like Gumby getting beat up) but the exchange of words before and during the fight was weak("Oh now you wanna hit me with garbage", Oh now you wanna shoot me in my pinky toe"). Oh come on! You mean to tell me that the guy who came up with Delirious and Raw cant do better than this? Incredible. The film has other problems. Danny Aiello is just awful as Phil Cantone. Every time he is on screen you just dread each moment. While Micheal Lerner is great as Bugsy Calhoun, Danny Aiello is just hammy as Phil Cantone and you almost forget that the guy can actually act(See Jacob's Ladder for proof of this). Richard Pryor plays the most likeable character in the whole movie, Sugar Ray. Quick is too arrogant and hotheaded to root for. Two complaints that most critics bring up when discussing Harlem Nights: racism and misogyny. Racism: Harlem Nights is set during the 1930s and racism was rampant back then so what kind of a complaint is that? Misogyny: The critics do have a point here. Every woman in Harlem Nights is either a hooker or a madame. Dominique Loreaux(Jasmine Guy) is used to set up Quick. Sunshine(Lela Rochon)is used to set up Richie(this is genuinely the funniest part of the movie). Vera is called out of her name all throughout this movie(they must have called her a b***** like 100 times). Now I know you will say that this is a comedy but is that really an excuse? Positives: Harlem Nights is funny albeit sporadically. The all-star cast and the time period is a plus. The way they set up Phil Cantone and Bugsy Calhoun was pretty clever. I like Harlem Nights' stick-it-to-the-man mentality. Both Richard Pryor and Michael Lerner's characters were cool. But the negatives outweigh the positives.
Closing comments: Harlem Nights had two options that might have saved it. The all-star comedy cast could have chipped in to write the script or they could have went for a drama instead of a comedy. Since neither was done Harlem Nights ends up being an average movie that is sporadically funny and sometimes bland. Harlem Nights is where it all went north for Eddie because afterwards every good movie he starred in was followed by a couple of bad ones. Another 48 Hours, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, The Haunted Mansion, Beverly Hills Cop III, I-Spy, Norbit are all proof of this statement. Harlem Nights is not the worst vanity project ever made(hello, Hudson Hawk, anyone?) but it could have been much better than this. 3 stars and nothing higher.
More Boomerang/Harlem Nights reviews:
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Description of Boomerang/Harlem Nights
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 1-JUL-2008
Media Type: DVD
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