Tale of revenge not so sweet for ho-hum Eddie
BOOMERANG (1992, CIC, 112 minutes) BOOMERANG has been hailed by some critics as comedian Eddie Murphy's ''comeback'' film. Relative to the spate of disastrous films he has made in recent years, Boomerang is an improvement. But his performance remains a distant second to the earlier works which catapulted him into the Hollywood big league.
The story is simple: Murphy plays a swanky womaniser who gets his comeuppance when his company is taken over and he finds himself terrorised and used by a trio made up of Eartha Kitt, Robin Givens and Grace Jones.
Apart from rare flashes of brilliance by the cast, Boomerang is little more than a run-of-the-mill womaniser-gets-taught-a-lesson and love-conquers-all affair.
CRAZY IN LOVE (1992, First Independent, 90 minutes) CRAZY in Love bears little resemblance to its title. In fact, A Gratuitous Orgy of Soul Searching would probably describe this film more accurately.
Holly Hunter plays the culprit of this extraneous exercise in self-reflection. Hunter lives on an island off the US mainland together with two generations of women from her family.
The problem starts when Hunter decides there should be more to life, while all the other members of the family are happily luxuriating in life in general and their island paradise.
Ultimately, the reasons for Hunter's binge in self-pity are too tenuous, and the film's struggle to be an inspirational coming-of-age affair is too obvious for it to be even mildly enjoyable.
TO PROTECT AND SERVE (1992, Entertainment in Video, 88 minutes) C. THOMAS Howell plays a detective who witnesses a case of police brutality similar to the real-life Rodney King incident. Soon after his interview by Internal Affairs staff, the police officers involved in the illegal beating are brutally murdered one after another.
It transpires Howell is also involved in the Internal Affairs investigation, and is accordingly identified as one of the prime suspects in the killings.
Surprisingly, To Protect and Serve has an interesting plot, with a multitude of suspects for the heinous crimes involved. But unfortunately it does not have any pace.
Compounded by mediocre performances, the film feels infinitely longer than its relatively short running time.
