Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Boomerang’ On BET, An Update Of The Eddie Murphy Hit That Focuses On Black Millennials

The 1992 movie Boomerang was a hit for Eddie Murphy, just not on the level of some of the other films of his peak period. But there are more than enough people nostalgic about the film that Halle Berry, whose career was launched by the film, and Lena Waithe thought it would be a good idea to revive it for a series set in the modern day. Read on to find out more…

BOOMERANG: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A bar scene with people talking about hair and other things; the man has a massive high-top and wearing a colorful sweater; the woman has short hair and big, dangling earrings.

The Gist: Lest you think the series version of the 1992 Eddie Murphy movie is stuck in the ’90s, the first scene is merely a nod to the era (though definitely not the aesthetic of the movie). It’s actually a commercial for an energy drink being shot by The Graham Agency (started by Murphy’s character Marcus Graham). Looking on is Marcus’ daughter Simone (Tetona Jackson), who works at the agency; she’s the daughter of Graham and Angela Lewis (played by Halle Berry in the film). Standing with her is her co-worker/buddy Bryson (Tequan Richmond), who is the son of Jacqueline Broyer (Robin Givens’ character in the film).

She can’t stand the nostalgic route that the agency’s account chief Victoria Johnson (Paula Newsome) has taken with the ad and lets her know; the ensuing dispute causes her to quit. She thinks she needs to strike out on her own, anyway, and as she tells her bestie Crystal Garrett (Brittany Inge), “I’m too cute to be homeless.” She soon comes up with an idea: She wants to represent Tia (Lala Milan), a performance artist she knows who’s currently “stripping with a message,” writing things like #FreeKap on her arms.

Simone is really focused on her career, to the point that when a friend with benefits — a famous rapper — stops by and presses her for a commitment after they have sex, she refuses, not wanting to get tied down.

Meanwhile, Bryson mentions to Crystal after the pitch meeting with the energy drink people how he’d do the ad, and focus it on the busy Black millennial on the go: “Being young, gifted and Black is cool… but it’s exhausting”. The client overhears it and wants to see what he can do, and Victoria reluctantly gives him money to do it. However, Simone — whom he’s had a crush on since they were kids — gets in his head, persuades him to hire Tia, and, while the resulting ad is good, it’s not what the client wants. Victoria tells Bryson to believe in his own ideas.

Our Take: Lena Waithe (The Chi) is the driving creative force behind this update of Boomerang (Berry is also an executive producer of this version), and you can see it in the tone of the story.

You have to remember that, in the 1992 movie, Murphy’s character Marcus was not just single and ready to mingle; he had super-high standards about who he would even be with, despite always being surrounded by beautiful women. In this version, his daughter Simone has the same attitude about not being tied down, but it’s more career-focused and less about seeking physical perfection in a mate. She’s not necessarily a player, just doesn’t want to be considered anyone’s girlfriend, fiancee or wife (or daughter, for that matter). She wants to be her own person.

Bryson, on the other hand, wants to settle down, which is interesting given that his mother was such a shark in the movie. He wants to have “the life,” including the great car, fantastic office, and the fulfilling relationship. So he’s ambitious, but he definitely gets in his own head, especially when it comes to Simone, who loves him like a brother but wants little to do with him romantically — at least not right now.

What we enjoy about both Simone and Bryson is that there’s something familiar in how they navigate being young, successful and single, but there’s also a lot that’s specific to doing this in their late 20s in our InstaFaceSnapchatbookgram society. Each of them also have a bit of an angel and devil on each shoulder. For Simone, it’s Crystal and Tia; for Bryson, it’s two other buddies from childhood: David (RJ Walker), the pastor of a startup church, and Ari (Leland Martin), a producer of digital shorts who loves to go out and get some strange on a regular basis.

The homages to the original movie are pretty brief, like a pic of Marcus on Simone’s Tesla phone display. Berry may or may not show up as Simone’s mother. But, for the most part, this is its own story, free of the piggishness that defined the original 27 years ago, but still gets into how tough it is to navigate relationships when you’re a successful millennial.

Sex and Skin: Simone has sex with her rapper friend, but we just see her from the back.

Parting Shot: When Simone visits Bryson after his crash and burn at the pitch meeting, he tries to initiate some romance with a hand on her knee. She just gets up and gets some wine.

Sleeper Star: Lala Milan has a lot of fun with Tia, someone who is so comfortable in her own skin that she just doesn’t give a shit about what anyone else thinks.

Most Pilot-y Line: Let’s hope we don’t consistently see Victoria as the out of touch “battle axe” as she’s portrayed in the pilot.

Our Call: STREAM IT, especially because of the chemistry between Jackson and Richmond. Also, it’s fun to see the basic tenets of the movie filtered through Waithe’s worldview.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Stream Boomerang on BET