First off, rest in peace to Pop Smoke. He was the best actor and made this film bearable. Would’ve love to see where his music and acting careers could’ve gone. A talent gone too soon.
àṣẹ
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Yea, uhhhh.
This film troubled my spirit.
At the thirteen-minute mark, my face was stuck on Will Smith at the “Entanglement” Red Table Talk.
Like, I just KNEW Eddie Huang did not WRITE and DIRECT this stereotypical, hyperbolic ass nonsense.
First off, if you simply watch the trailer, that’s the film. But the trailer has better editing, which made the aim of the plot more compelling.
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“Boogie” is the result of a flawed screenplay that reeks of potential, but continuously trips and fall over itself until you’re utterly fatigued.
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I legit open-mouthed cackled at the pure cringe of the weight room dialogue between Alfred “Boogie” Chin (Taylor Takahashi), the film’s protagonist, with his friend Richie (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), and Eleanor (Taylour Paige) with her friend Alissa (Alexa Mareka) separately, and even (fucking) louder when they interacted with each other.
The epitome of cringeworthy. Even for teenagers in 2019.
I honestly thought it was a joke and they all were about to do that Jim Halpert fourth-wall break.
Eddie…bruh…fuck is you on, my guy. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
When I say the writing laid it on THICK.
Ok, so they censored the “niggas” and other expletives in the soundtrack used during the intro, which was odd considering like two scenes later Boogie’s friend Richie referred to other Asian people as “Asian niggas” to Boogie.
Mmmm’k.
And the word “Asian” was used so many times within the first ten minutes of the film, I thought my shit was DVD-skippin’. Like, bruh, we get it.
YOUR👏🏾 AUDIENCE👏🏾 UNDERSTANDS👏🏾 THE 👏🏾AIM👏🏾.
What couldn’t been a great medicine-in-the-candy moment was elevating the conversation between the Chin family and the college basketball recruiter Patrick (Charlamagne Tha God) about the difference between The People’s Republic of China and Taiwan to a level other than a line about offering him an imported beer. But, aight…
Also, the cheap shot at Jeremy Lin was hella predictable, and reminded me of the shot Sam Levinson took at Barry Jenkins’ success in “Malcolm and Marie” (2021).
Casting was giving Stockard Channing as “Rizzo” and Michael Tucci as “Sonny” in Grease (1978). Like, I’m to believe they really supposed to be 17- and 18-year-olds, bruh? I’ll give you super-senior college students—stop playing with my emotions. 🙃🙃
Taylor’s inconsistent Queens accent was interesting, but I enjoy seeing her in films and totally loved her as Boogie’s girl. Both Tays actually vibed—I digs it.
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There were too many wide shots used that didn’t fit the the intimacy of the scenes, and actually created a little too much distance to catch the actions and reactions of the characters.
The editing felt haphazard as well.
The score didn’t complement most scenes, and actually broke the emotion. The soundtrack was cool, but also felt weirdly applied and some lyrics did not entirely match the vibe of the scene. For example, after Boogie finds out something predictably devastating about Eleanor, Jacquees’ song “Faded” plays, and there’s one lyric that almost makes sense for the situation, but Richie almost immediately breaks the logic by rightfully defending Eleanor.
I just—bruh, the mise-en-scène… debilitating…😔😔
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And, ANNNNNNNNNDAH…on top of all else…the basketball game in the final act was lackluster.
‘Twas dull AF.
Beyond frustrating.
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