FMC 141: Boomerang Directed by Reginald Hudlin

Full Episode Transcript

This episode of Filmmaker Commentary Reginald Hudlin's 1992 romantic comedy *Boomerang*, starring Eddie Murphy, discussing its cultural impact, cast performances, technical aspects, and comparing it to other contemporary Black cinema.

Opening Discussion: Boomerang

Reginald Titus Jr.: Filmmaker Commentary, episode 141. Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary, where we cover movies with commentaries from directors who take the time to record them on Blu-ray and DVDs. We also give our detailed insights, so look out for spoilers. We discuss the latest in showbiz news along with movies and TV shows that we've been watching. So join Reginald Titus Jr., that's me, and KCG Smith, that's me, every week here on Filmmaker Commentary.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary. I'm Reginald Titus Jr. I'm joined with...

Casey G. Smith: KCG Smith.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome back, sir.

Casey G. Smith: Good to be back, sir.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And today we're talking about *Boomerang*, directed by Reginald Hudlin, 1992. Starring Eddie Murphy...

Casey G. Smith: Yes, sir.

Reginald Titus Jr.: ...and friends. Many friends.

Reginald Titus Jr.: What was the box office for this film?

Casey G. Smith: So on a $42 million budget, *Boomerang* was able to gross $131 million globally.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That's a win.

Casey G. Smith: Absolutely.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Wow.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Any awards that this film won? Any awards?

Casey G. Smith: So just one award came through the BMI Film and TV Awards. It was the award for Most Performed Song from a Film. It went to LA Reid, Daryl Simmons, and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds for the song "End of the Road."

Reginald Titus Jr.: Wow.

Reginald Titus Jr.: This film was, yeah, it's nice.

Casey G. Smith: Very nice.

News, TV & Movies Watched

Reginald Titus Jr.: But before we talk further about *Boomerang*, let's talk about news, TV, and movies watched.

Casey G. Smith: So in the news, according to Variety, *Top Gun Maverick* has passed *Titanic* as the seventh-highest-grossing release in domestic box office history.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Whoa, *Titanic*?

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. How about that?

Reginald Titus Jr.: That who saw that coming?

Casey G. Smith: I did not.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Nobody.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Yeah, I didn't see it.

Casey G. Smith: That's, that's incredible. That is an incredible feat for, I mean, that's, that's an uphill battle.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: A sequel, a prolonged sequel, to have that kind of success is, this must be a really amazing movie. Neither of us, neither of us have seen it yet.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I've been meaning to. It's one of those ones, kind of like *Tenet*, like, I have to see this at the theater. I've been putting it off. Even when the trailer came out because it came, they were showing the trailer pre-pandemic, right? And uh, I was like, this looks amazing. Like, because you haven't really seen these angles before in TV, movies, wherever, you just haven't seen it. And I was like, I have to watch this. But uh, yeah, I got to figure it out. I had one of our buddies, he's a military guy, he can hit me up like, "Oh man, it's great!" He doesn't even watch movies! And if this guy's telling me this movie's awesome, then I'm like, okay.

Casey G. Smith: That's when you set records. When people that don't normally watch movies come and see your movie, you might be able to smash a record. But to beat *Titanic*, I mean...

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Some of our younger listeners, *Titanic* held records for a while. That was...

Reginald Titus Jr.: It's still on the list. Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Except it's number eight now. That's all.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: That's, yeah, from a domestic record standpoint, that's still pretty good. And that's a 20-year record. At least, at least 20 years.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: So, yeah. But that's all I had in the way of news.

Reginald Titus Jr.: What kind of TV or movies have you been watching? Anything new?

Casey G. Smith: Yes, quite a few new. So I finally did go to the theaters to see *Nope*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. Yep.

Casey G. Smith: *Nope*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That's been like the tagline online. People be like, "Yep" or "Nope."

Casey G. Smith: Nope.

Reginald Titus Jr.: *Nope* for *Nope*.

Casey G. Smith: So, checked it out in the theaters on, on a weekday, basically. It was Monday. And I, I, I enjoyed it. It is a film that it makes you think. You have to, you have to pay attention.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: It, it, it does, you know, there, there are some twists and turns of what, of that subvert maybe your expectations. And the performances are, are nice, especially Keke Palmer, like, she's, she's fantastic in it. And Daniel Kaluuya with his, his, his kind of silent, stoic performance. And some, some very interesting subplots that take place as well that I think could make for, what's, an interesting spinoff. But, nonetheless, I, I, I did, I did enjoy it. It started off a little slow in my opinion. I felt it started a little slow, but then once it picks up...

Reginald Titus Jr.: Well, it, do we want to do a couple of spoilers or something? What do you think? It's been in the theater how long?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Like three weeks?

Casey G. Smith: Yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: It's kind of stalled out a little bit, didn't it?

Casey G. Smith: Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. Fast forward a few minutes. Diving into *Nope*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, well, first scene, someone dies by a coin. So I wouldn't necessarily say it starts out slow, but then it, like, it goes there and then slows down. You know, because it's like, what, what's going on? How does a dude die? A coin? Where'd this come from? Remember?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, so yeah, you have the death. It happens like, literally the first shot of the film. Um, but yeah, you're right. After that it's, uh, ghost town.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. I, I, I dozed off a couple of times. I was like, man, I was drinking, I was drinking a Coke and I still, I was like, what is going on? I was like, man, come on. But uh, but then, yeah, when it got going I was like, oh, okay. Oh, wait a minute. I didn't expect that to be that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I like the vibe of, you know, while they're trying to figure out what's going on, uh, because they, uh, Jordan Peele shot it in IMAX, and like how wonderful that looks on screen at nighttime under like the moonlight and all that. It looks great, man. It feels like you're there with them.

Casey G. Smith: Hmm.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Definitely a spectacle. Um, when you were saying about spinoff, there's a scene in there where we see a chimpanzee beat the breaks off somebody.

Casey G. Smith: Oh, the little girl.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Poor child.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. Not, not a good look.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Grow. Yeah. What makes it more horrific too, you don't see the violence, you know, it's, uh, you just see the, the results, like the blood on the chimp's hand and everybody freaking out.

Casey G. Smith: It's one of those things where what you don't see is more terrifying than what you could see, where you see, there's a couch, and all you see, you, you know there's somebody who's, who's on the other side of the couch, because you can see their feet extended past the couch. And then you see the chimp, you see his arms kind of raise above the couch and then come down. Just boom, boom, boom. And then of course all the foley and the sound effects then just add to it.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: You're like, oh. It's the sound of just big monkey hands pounding on human flesh and blood flying.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes.

Casey G. Smith: You know what? And then and then it's, you know, this pretty well done CGI monkey then, you know, comes closer to the other potential victim and then catches somebody else and then it's after them and it's, you're not going to win against a, you're not going to win unarmed against a chimpanzee.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh. Sorry, son. You're done.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. You're done, son.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I felt that part of the movie could have been like just its own situation, could have been just like a little small film or something.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Leading up to that horrific event. Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: They don't, yeah, don't get fooled in the size of the, it's not the size of the fight of the chimpanzee. It's the strength of the hands, man.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh my goodness. I don't know if you've been seeing like on, on social media and stuff, like with these orangutans, like grabbing people, like grabbing like their arms and legs and then and like they can't get away in their cage, like just grabbing them.

Casey G. Smith: You are going nowhere.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Nowhere. They're so, they're so smart that, um, I don't know what country this is. But, you know, the tourists are like taking these tours and you see these orangutans. Um, the orangutans will grab a woman and hold, basically just hold her hostage waiting for snacks. And if you don't hurry up and do it, they'll like pretend like they're going to bite the fingers off. Like, these women can't do nothing. There's nothing you can do. They're just holding onto their wrist, like holding them hostage because they're so strong, there's nothing you can do. Even the strongest man can't do anything.

Casey G. Smith: Oh no. Again, their, their arms are for travel. They travel on their damn arms. So, you imagine taking the strength that's in your legs, flipping it up to your body, you're done. You're done. You're not going unless they want you to go.

Reginald Titus Jr.: They are very, very intelligent. But yeah, but they'll basically hold them hostage for food or inflict pain to get food. It's, it's rough.

Casey G. Smith: No moral code.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Man.

Casey G. Smith: But nonetheless, *Nope*, *Nope*, *Nope* was enjoyable, so that's one of the things that I finally watched and have been watching.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. I'm glad you checked it out.

Casey G. Smith: Absolutely. What else have you been watching? I have a few more things, but what else have you been watching, Reginald?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, I took my son, it was his birthday this past week and, um, he went, we, he wanted to watch *Super Pets*.

Casey G. Smith: Hey! Hmm, how was that?

Reginald Titus Jr.: That was, he enjoyed it. Like, he, he was like, I like this. The, um, the, the guy playing Batman, I don't know whose voice that is.

Casey G. Smith: Kevin Hart?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Playing Batman?

Casey G. Smith: Oh, sorry. My bad. He plays, he plays the, the, the dog of Batman.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. So whoever's voice that is. So there's a scene where they throw, um, they're throwing, uh, Superman is throwing a toy, like a dog toy, a chewable, and it's a Batman. And then the dog grabs it and then you see Batman, "That better be licensed, or I'm going to freak."

Casey G. Smith: I think I saw that in the trailers, so I'm saying that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Like, I don't know what it is about like that character, that Batman version. It is hilarious because he's got a kind of a slight frown, and then the voice just like matches it perfectly.

Casey G. Smith: I wonder if, let's see. I'm curious if that's, because I know Will Arnett has played Batman in a couple of, uh, a couple of, in the Lego, in the Lego movies. Lego Batman. And he, he does a fun job of that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Dude. I go like, whoever that is is, is it's perfect. And whoever drew Batman, it matches perfectly. And, uh, The Rock as Krypto?

Casey G. Smith: Krypto.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Like, you can't even tell, you can't even tell, you can tell it's The Rock, but you kind of get lost in the character that you don't really see Dwayne Johnson in there. It's like, huh.

Casey G. Smith: You'll never guess who played Batman. Who?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Keanu Reeves.

Casey G. Smith: Are you serious?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, sir.

Casey G. Smith: Keanu Reeves as Batman.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh. Well done, Keanu. My goodness.

Casey G. Smith: And, uh, John Krasinski is playing, played Superman.

Reginald Titus Jr.: What? My son who I took to the theater, his middle name is Keanu. Wow. That's great. Oh, that, that makes it even better.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I definitely want to check out *Super Pets*. Um, I also, I watch quite a bit of on, on, on the A&E app. They have, they, they've, they've been doing this series of WWE wrestlers, it's called, you know, biography, like WWE Legends. And these biographies, they're about, you know, hour, hour and a half episodes on just different wrestlers, which I've, I've watched different stuff that the WWE has produced directly. But this, in conjunction with A&E, they're really diving into some stuff that WWE would kind of protect, but they, they just really opened it up. So everything from Macho Man Randy Savage to, uh, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Bret Hart, Rowdy Roddy Piper, which that, that one was really, really good on, on, on Roddy Piper. So, I've just been enjoying a lot, Kurt Angle, his was really good too. And, here's a common theme: drugs.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I mean, come on.

Casey G. Smith: The, the, the drug use in the wrestling business is absolutely insane, especially with a lot of these wrestlers being around in the, in the 80s, well, 70s and 80s. It, it, you know, because the schedule these guys keep is, is madness. I mean, wrestling sometimes, two to three times a day, and we're talking year round. There is no offseason in professional wrestling. And, again, while outcomes may be predetermined, and while talk may happen as far as how a match is going to go, bumps are real. The bumps you take hitting those mats and...

Reginald Titus Jr.: I just thought these guys were superhuman. Like, you know, as a kid you see these big old swole guys like fall on the ground like, how is that possible? Like it sounds loud, looks like it hurts.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. They, but I mean, obviously, when you go to school, you learn how to fall, how to take the bump, but...

Reginald Titus Jr.: The damage is there though, like when you see, um, what's our guy, the blonde hair with the balls, uh, Hulk Hogan, you know, and seeing like all the surgeries he has to go through from his back, like all the needles he has to take in his back from all those years, cartilage is just gone.

Casey G. Smith: Well, from just doing also the same moves over and over again, like him dropping that leg. But like, these, these episodes have been really, really good and the, the history they give behind the, the people themselves and their careers. I, I've been very impressed and so I'm, I'm steady working through that series. They're on season two now, and every Sunday night on A&E they have a new episode like, I think, this past one was Lex Luger, who, I mean, he's in a wheelchair now. He and that guy used to be, he used to call him a total package, because he was huge. But, uh, but it's also, it's also quite tragic because so many of these wrestlers don't, don't go past 60 years. And even Roddy Piper said, I don't expect to live past 60. And, but he made it to 61 before he passed away.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: Which is still pretty young in, in, in the grand scheme. But nonetheless, so I've been watching that as well. I also watched, today I watched *Cherry*, which is a movie that, it's a, movie directed by the Russo Brothers.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: Starring Tom Holland.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: Where he plays a, a young man. It's based on, partially on a true story, who goes off to war, he's in the, uh, the Gulf War, not, I don't know, the Afghanistan War. And comes back, ends up getting hooked on drugs, he and his wife, end up getting like hooked on drugs. It's, it's, he's phenomenal in this.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Tom Holland.

Casey G. Smith: Like this is, this is not, this is not him playing Peter Parker. This is Peter Parker of his, of his life went terribly wrong and got hooked on drugs and started robbing banks.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That's all the last, you know, the last film was pretty depressing towards the end.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, there was some, there was some definite sadness there. But this dude, oh man, it's a, excellent. Like the Russo Brothers, I tip my hat to you both. Tom Holland and to his co-star, fantastic job. It's, I mean, it's, it's brutal. I mean, we know Tom has range, but this is showing him, this is the darker side of him, and his performance that you haven't seen before. He goes to a very, very dark place, but it is, it is excellent. It's called *Cherry*, streaming on Apple TV.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: Uh, then lastly, I also watched brand new on Hulu, the movie *Prey*, which is basically a, almost like a prequel to the *Predator* movies.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh.

Casey G. Smith: This is supposed to be based on their very first encounter on Earth. And they come across a Cheyenne, uh, I want to say it's a Cheyenne tribe. And, yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I've been seeing the marketing on that.

Casey G. Smith: It was, it was pretty, it was pretty decent. I won't say it was great, but it was, it was pretty, pretty decent.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And it's just a movie?

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. It's just a movie.

Reginald Titus Jr.: What? They keep going back to that, uh, IP.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, there is, I mean, the first one's so good.

Reginald Titus Jr.: What can you do?

Casey G. Smith: I think there are still possibilities that haven't been scratched when it comes to the *Predator* franchise. I didn't see the second to last one that they made or where it was, I don't know, it was the most recent one. I didn't seem like it went that well.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah, because you had, what did we see? We saw the first one, of course, then you had the one after that with, uh, Danny Glover. And then you had *Predators*.

Casey G. Smith: Which I thought that, that was decent.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That was solid. Executive produced by Robert Rodriguez.

Casey G. Smith: Right, Robert Rodriguez. Mm-hm.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And then I didn't see the one after that, which is like the Predator has a predator that's bigger.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I didn't see that one. I haven't watched any of the *Alien versus Predator* ones either.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh yeah. I don't know if those count.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I don't, if they're not, if they're not chasing humans, I'm like, hm, what's going on here? Not invested.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So this new one is supposed to be a prequel, huh?

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. Yeah, and it's just, just one, one predator, singular. And, um, yeah, doing his, doing his thing. It was, yeah, it was nice.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. I don't know. It seems like with those, with, with, uh, certain IP, it's like, all right, that's, that's a good one off, but let's not dive too deep here because it, you know, like sometimes the story hasn't been fleshed all the way out like that where like, okay, this can live on for, for forever.

Casey G. Smith: True.

Reginald Titus Jr.: But, uh, it's funny when, you know, people got to come up with these backstories.

Casey G. Smith: Well, I mean, they've, they've fleshed out, I mean, *Predators*, it's, it's a, I guess a fairly bankable IP, because these are hunters, and they hunt across the galaxy. Now it's, it's most fun when they're hunting humans. So it's like, what kind of scenarios can you create and how, how does man, you know, we're so used to being the alphas on this planet. How do we survive against intergalactic hunters, who are far more powerful than the average man, who collects skulls of freaking xenomorphs?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah.

Casey G. Smith: The creatures that bleed acid. Good luck.

Reginald Titus Jr.: It's a collectible. Ripping out spines.

Casey G. Smith: You should be afraid if that's a trophy in someone's room.

Reginald Titus Jr.: You should be terrified.

Casey G. Smith: But yeah, that's what I've been watching.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, uh, me and the wife, we on, on Amazon Prime, there's been like this marketing for this show called *Paper Girls*. It's like these four young ladies and they're probably same age group as like *Stranger Things*. And this takes place in the 80s. Takes place in the 80s. And then something happens, and these young girls, who are, you know, about to be in high school, middle school, high school, um, are transported to 2019. And, uh, they see their, you know, their grown-up selves. It's very interesting. But like, the vibe feels like *Stranger Things*, but from like a girl's perspective. It's like, kind of like the vibe I get from it. So far, so good. We've been enjoying it. We're about three episodes in.

Casey G. Smith: Based off a graphic novel.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Ah, that's very true.

Casey G. Smith: Now, yeah, because I, I'd heard about *Paper Girls* a while back. I think it won an Eisner Award, which is like the top award in the comic book genre field. But I, I've heard rumbles about it and I thought it was being turned into, into a, a series. So I ought to give that a peek, because I did, I did see some advertisements for *Paper Girl*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. *Paper Girl*, *Paper Girls*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, I think sometimes with, um, so it's good, but it's funny when, like a, a show can be kind of too self-aware, it's like, if I was a, so it kind of starts out like, if I was a boy, if I was a man. Like, you hear like some of that dialogue, but then once they get over that, you know, they get that out the system, then you can kind of go on for the ride. But, you know, you kind of got to get your political stuff out the way, gotta say it, for the culture. Get it out the way, and then you can follow along. But, uh, so far, so good.

Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm. All right.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Did you get a chance to check out *Devs*?

Casey G. Smith: Did I see it? Did I see a clip?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, you know, I forgot to, I was actually watching that, uh, the second episode when you, when you arrived.

Casey G. Smith: Oh, okay. So yes, I've, I'm, uh, one and a half episodes in.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Thoughts so far? I don't even know what happened. I forgot what happened.

Casey G. Smith: Well, I don't want to give anything what you've seen it, but, uh, I saw the first episode, and so we know there's a mysterious death as surroundings, as well as at least to the, to the, the girlfriend of the, the deceased. She's trying to figure out. So there's a mystery that's, that's unfolding. There's a lot of questions. And, uh, seeing my man, Ron, not Ron, what's, what's my guy's name? One of them, one of the main actors in it, he's...

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, the one playing the CEO?

Casey G. Smith: Yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay, yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Very familiar face.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, he was, he was on, um, *Parks and Rec*. He played a guy named Ron. But he's been doing his thing. I've been seeing him in more and more stuff. And I can't think of his freaking name right now. But, yeah, and also the young, the young lady that's there in the show with him, she's all, kind of his second in command or whatever. She was on that fantastic show on HBO *Newsroom*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh.

Casey G. Smith: And she was also in *Scott Pilgrim*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, absolutely.

Casey G. Smith: We are Sex Bob-Omb. One, two, three, four. She was the drummer.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That is a surprisingly great movie.

Casey G. Smith: I'm going to have to revisit that one. I'm going to watch that again.

Reginald Titus Jr.: You introduced me to that one and that was surprisingly good. I didn't expect it to be good.

Casey G. Smith: You're welcome.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, thank you.

Casey G. Smith: It was, it was highly underrated. It didn't give the kind of love it should have had in the theaters. I mean, it was, it's a, even though again, based on the graphic novel, it was, I didn't, I didn't know anything about him until I saw the commercials. And I watched that one in the theater and that was...

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh.

Casey G. Smith: That was awesome in the theater. It was like, whoa.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Especially with the coins when they go, the coin spread out everywhere.

Casey G. Smith: That was like, yo, this is, a fanboy wet dream right here. This is...

Reginald Titus Jr.: Movie magic.

Casey G. Smith: Yes, sir.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And, uh, today's show is sponsored by...

Casey G. Smith: *Natural Hair*, the movie by Grinder Vomitor Films, available to stream on All Black TV and now for free on Tubi. Please check it out and leave a review.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And now let's jump back into the show.

Film Synopsis & Initial Impressions

Reginald Titus Jr.: Thank you for tuning into Filmmaker Commentary. We're talking about *Boomerang*, directed by Reginald Hudlin, 1992. Let's jump into the synopsis.

Reginald Titus Jr.: When marketing executive and all around ladies' man, Marcus Graham, meets his match in the boardroom and the bedroom, he finds himself falling in love with the ambitious and beautiful Jacqueline. Now vulnerable and exposed for the first time, true love might come from an unexpected someone. Is it too late for Marcus to learn that when it comes to love, what goes around, comes around? *Boomerang*, written by KCG Smith.

Casey G. Smith: Hey! And if this is your first time listening to Filmmaker Commentary, please know that there will be spoilers. You've been forewarned.

Reginald Titus Jr.: How did you watch this film? Have you watched it before? And then how'd you get, how'd you obtain a copy?

Casey G. Smith: Ha-ha! Yes, I had watched this before, 30 years ago, in the theater. Like when family, when we were in the theater. Yeah, we went and saw this one in the theater. Um, I think it was like a Saturday, like a Saturday matinee kind of thing. We went downtown, Columbia Mall, Grand Forks, downtown Grand Forks, and we, yeah, we watched this one in the theater. And I hadn't seen it since. So it literally has been over 30 years. But to revisit it, I, I didn't realize how robust this cast was. Uh, and just like, oh man, I, I mean, I remember obviously, Eddie and Halle and, excuse me, and also Robin Givens. I remember, I remember all them.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And can we not forget...

Reginald Titus Jr.: Go ahead.

Casey G. Smith: But I forgot about all the other co-stars. Oh, and Grace Jones. I've totally forgotten Martin was in this film. I mean, I didn't, he wasn't, I didn't know him then. He was just a, he was just a, yeah, another guy.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And then, uh, David Alan Grier, *In Living Color*.

Casey G. Smith: Totally, yeah, even though we watched that, I, I forgot a lot about this film. I haven't watched it in 30 years. So, that's, that's a while. But it was wonderful to revisit it, and I attained my copy of Blu-ray via Amazon.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I, um, so this movie, I really didn't watch this movie. Like, I knew about it, knew scenes, like, just one of those films. I remember when it dropped though, because my cousin, we're the same age, his name is Marcus. And so his parents went to go watch it. We were still kids, like, you know, it was, uh, maybe not, not this time, guys. Um, plus, it didn't feel like we were missing out on anything because it's like, man, what is this? You know? Bunch of people dating. I don't know. You know, it's like with boys, you know, it just wasn't on our radar. We were watching *Ninja Turtles*, that movie.

Casey G. Smith: Sure. Go ninja, go ninja, go.

Reginald Titus Jr.: What year did that come out, by the way? Um, but I remember, um, them coming back from the theater and they were like, yeah, Marcus, Marcus, darling, and saying all this stuff. And so like, we, we couldn't connect it, but I remember, "Marcus, darling."

Casey G. Smith: Marcus, darling.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, but I remember them saying, "Marcus, darling."

Casey G. Smith: Oh man, yes.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That needs to be a sound bite.

Casey G. Smith: Yes.

Reginald Titus Jr.: But yeah, so, um, yeah, so I, that's what I remember. I remember the vibe, you know, like, you can kind of tell if a movie is successful. People are talking about it, it's in, you know, it's in pop culture, people are referencing it. There's new language that comes out of the movie. True. And so that was the Marcus darling and things like that were kind of popping around.

Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm. Just in the cultural zeitgeist.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes.

Casey G. Smith: So much so where you maybe thought you had seen it, but hadn't actually seen it.

Reginald Titus Jr.: No. Not at all. I did see that last scene though, um, like just the, the, um, the scene where he gets the girl, you know?

Casey G. Smith: Uh-huh.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Eddie Murphy gets the girl and the music, the, the, wasn't Dawn and PMD or...

Casey G. Smith: Oh, "Baby, You Send Me."

Reginald Titus Jr.: That's a beautiful song.

Casey G. Smith: PM Dawn back in the day, man.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That was a beautiful, that was beautiful.

Casey G. Smith: Psychedelic R&B hip-hop?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Something.

Casey G. Smith: Say what?

Reginald Titus Jr.: The guy's song, the, the guy's voice who's singing on that reminds me of, uh, Sampha. The guy, there's a artist, uh, UK artist, Sampha just has a voice of an angel.

Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Their vibe was so, was so, so mellow, so chill. I gotta send you some stuff from, like, Sampha stuff, but, uh...

Casey G. Smith: Do that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: He, he's on, uh, *Don't Touch My Hair*, uh, the with Solange. He's singing like the background vocals on the Solange, *Don't Touch My Hair*.

Casey G. Smith: Uh-huh.

Reginald Titus Jr.: But, uh, cool, chill vibe. Any rate, tangent. This time around, went to Movie Trading Company, bought the Blu-ray. Uh, actually, like when I was going to shopping for *Menace II Society* or one of the other films, when I saw this and I was like, oh, snap, it's got commentary and it's Reginald Hudlin.

Casey G. Smith: Yes, sir.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, we might have to take a look see.

Casey G. Smith: And for those of you who aren't familiar with Reginald Hudlin, he's also known for his first film, *House Party*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Man, one of my favorites growing up. That was, that was absolute, uh, gem. Yeah. Kid and Play. Yeah. That, that film was on, we watched that on VHS, and that was just on replay at all times. During summertime in the house, that was always playing.

Casey G. Smith: You know what I find interesting, just thinking about the 90s, just right now just thinking about *Kid N' Play*, just, and we've kind of touched on this before, but man, just how many rappers made this crossover into movies and TV in the 90s. Yeah. You know, Ice T, Ice Cube, Vanilla Ice, Go, Go, Ninja, Go. Sure, Vanilla Ice. Um, you know, Will Smith, obviously. Yeah. Um, The Fat Boys. They had, they had their film in the 90s. They had their movie, *Disorderlies*. Yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That was funny.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I used to look forward to seeing that one pop up. Uh, then of course, you know, we're, we're talking about, um, yeah, *Kid N' Play*. And there were plenty of cameos with, with other rappers. Then of course, when we watched *Menace II Society*, we had Too Short and Yo-Yo. Yeah. And, uh, the other guy who had a pretty prominent role in the film, MC Eiht. MC Eiht. And those people were kind of just playing their selves just like, hey, just, just be yourself, just turn it up a little bit, Yo-Yo, turn it down a little bit, MC Eiht.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Exactly.

Casey G. Smith: Tupac, of course. You know, that's like, probably, yeah. I argue one of the, one of the more successful, more, more convincing. Yeah. Mark Wahlberg, probably be the most successful of all.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh. Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: I think Will will have him beat though.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, you got a point. Yeah, I think I think Will would, I mean, Mark, Mark is mad successful, but I think Will's body of work...

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Surpasses. Yeah. Wahlberg's. Will Wahlberg's also done a lot of producing.

Reginald Titus Jr.: It's a different path, I think. But as far as like, now they're just Hollywood people now, you know, versus like...

Casey G. Smith: They're generations who don't know that they were with the Funky Bunch or with DJ Jazzy Jeff.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Like, these guys doing music too. Are they, they're studying music career? No. These are the roots.

Casey G. Smith: You know, I would agree though. Will Smith has like, probably the, almost perfect career. Won the first, uh, Grammy for the rap album, and then just recently won an Oscar. For real. Oh. Hey.

Reginald Titus Jr.: The pinnacles of both careers.

Casey G. Smith: That's a mighty impressive.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Because he, he's been, he's been swinging for that Oscar for a while.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.

Casey G. Smith: But he finally got it.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Tell the truth. Tell the truth.

Casey G. Smith: But yeah, just very interesting in, in the 90s to see how many of these hip-hop artists segued into acting. Yeah. Um, when I think about our last film with the Hughes Brothers, um, and then kind of, uh, juxtaposing it with, you know, Reginald Hudlin and he, you know, then he directed *House Party* with his brother?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Excuse me. I don't, I'm not sure.

Casey G. Smith: Okay.

Reginald Titus Jr.: But, uh, but just kind of seeing that, well, him and his brother though, they, they think they like make their cameos. They made their cameo on, uh, *House Party*. You remember they were the ones with the like basket in the middle of the alley, this dude has like a hair dryer on there just like running from the cops and then he say, freeze, freeze, negros, and then they let go of the shopping basket and then the car, uh, a TV that was in the cart falls onto the police car and cracks the windshield.

Casey G. Smith: Ooh.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, but anyhow, that was like the, I haven't watched *House Party*.

Casey G. Smith: Like I said, I haven't watched *House Party* in a freaking long time.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, but, but well done. Like, you go back to and look at it, like perfect execution. Um, and that kind of vibe is in *Boomerang*.

Casey G. Smith: Uh-huh.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, but I, I kind of see two different kind of worlds, you know, we see like the, the Hughes Brothers and like how they're showing Black Life from their perspective. And then you see, uh, Hudlin, uh, from his perspective, and how he's telling his stories. Both black stories, but just a different perspective on it.

Casey G. Smith: I think it's interesting when you hear about, I think with the Hughes Brothers, I forget where they went to film school, but I think it was somewhere local within the LA area. I don't think they only...

Reginald Titus Jr.: USC? Did they go to USC?

Casey G. Smith: Potentially. Um, but still like within California, where you hear Hudlin, he went to, what, Harvard?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Wow. Yeah, different world.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Slightly different experience.

Casey G. Smith: Slightly. And even when he's giving his commentary, he's, I mean, both filmmakers reference different classic films, right? The Hughes Brothers were, you know, were mentioning Scorsese films, things like that. And Hudlin, again, when he's giving his commentary, he's mentioning different classic actors that, that he had inspiration from. So it's a, again, you, you continue to borrow.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, got to continue to borrow. Um, but I do see myself, uh, especially younger, kind of pulled more towards the, the Hudlin stories. Then as I got older, kind of being pulled into the Hughes stories. Uh, it just seemed like Hudlin's perspective is kind of more from the black middle class. And I feel like that kind of spoke to me a little bit more, you know, subconsciously.

Casey G. Smith: Sure.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, what did you like or not like about the film?

Casey G. Smith: I really like this cast. I mean, this is a, this is a powerhouse cast. This is, this is like a, a time capsule moment. You want to see some of our best and brightest. Eddie Murphy, Robin Givens, Halle Berry.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Wow.

Casey G. Smith: Uh, Martin Lawrence, David Alan Grier, Chris Rock, Tisha Campbell.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Whoa, yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Um, Grace Jones. Yeah. Oh my God. Like, wait, what? And then small cameos, Eartha Kitt, Melvin Van Peebles.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Ah. As soon as I saw him in the editing room with the cigar, I was like, I know who that is.

Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, and the, the fact that it's a scene where it's like some nudity, I was like, that's just perfect for Melvin.

Casey G. Smith: We got the perfect cameo for you, Melvin. Yeah. This is again, a powerhouse cast. And just, I mean, as far as, again, kind of like *Menace II Society*, to have a, I mean, all black cast, Yeah. A black film. I mean, again, not even, sometimes you get a, a quote unquote black film with a predominantly black cast, but then you may still have a, a, a white, uh, character within making their kind of way through.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I thought you're about to say white director.

Casey G. Smith: Oh, well, that happens sometimes too.

Reginald Titus Jr.: *Color Purple*.

Casey G. Smith: And okay. Yeah, hey, these things happen. These things, these things happen too. But all black cast, all black director. But this, I mean, this, there's like one white person with a speaking role, I think, and that's just the guy in the store.

Reginald Titus Jr.: In the store? In the men's store?

Casey G. Smith: Oh, that's right. Or some of the, uh, Frenchmen that come in, some of the Europeans. Yeah, yeah, but it's, I mean, pretty limited. It's just like, all black everything. And that's just like, hey, look at that. And everybody is successful doing their thing, like working corporate America, Yeah. Living their life. And you see various shades, various personalities, not monolith.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And just crazy because...

Casey G. Smith: It's pretty excellent.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Because like, even though we see it's like, hey, this is all black or whatever, or, but that's kind of how real life is in a way, you know, because of how our cultures are. So it's like if you're hanging around, you know, you, you grown up around your Korean family or, you know, more than likely the people that you're hanging around is going to be probably part of that culture. Sure. And if you throw a camera in there, you know, that's what you're going to see that day.

Casey G. Smith: Slice of life.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. So it's, it's crazy sometimes we think about that, you know, but it's actually just normal.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. But it's, it's, it's, it's nice to see it portrayed and, Eddie was the, you know, the, the right guy at the right time with the audience that he had, and yeah, man, it's just feels, it feels good. This is, this is a very, this is a very good movie.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I like to see, and it definitely a different feeling than what we felt the previous week with *Menace II Society*.

Casey G. Smith: A little different. A little, little different.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Slightly more optimistic ending, for sure.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, without a doubt. You know, and it's something like sometimes you can be proud of.

Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm.

Reginald Titus Jr.: You know, just as a person of color, just like, wow, okay, cool. There is a film that exists out there that doesn't have to be explicit, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Sure. Fill in the blank. Uh, so yeah, I agree. Well done. So I, the, the transfer, I don't know if it was true for your Blu-ray, but the transfer was terrible. Compared to the Criterion of *Menace II Society*. Watching the transfer on my Blu-ray, it was not up to par, man.

Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Like, you could see the grain, you can tell like, uh, even though they were kind of promoting 4K now in 4K, it seems like the, I don't know how they transferred it, but it was, for me, it wasn't well done. Like, you could tell, it, it looked dated when you look at it. Uh, compared to when we saw *Menace II Society*, it was like, this could have been shot yesterday or, or *Love Jones*, like, this could have been done yesterday. This looks great. So from a quality standpoint, I felt like that dated it, you know. Uh, but, what I did like is that it, this, this movie is still funny.

Casey G. Smith: Yes.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Like, I was dying on a few of those scenes.

Casey G. Smith: And I'll tell you what I also liked. I love, I like the wardrobe in this. Eddie, man, Eddie is...

Reginald Titus Jr.: He was flying, wasn't he?

Casey G. Smith: Sharp to the nines. You know, it's, it's definitely 90s style, like when you get that, that single button. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Collar, which what, I mean, it's not, it's not a traditional collar. There's no edges to it, if you will. Nothing that, that kind of hangs off, but it's just one connected, almost like a priest collar where just boom, connects the top. Oh, yeah. Yeah, man. He was wearing some fly outfits and just, yeah, the wardrobe is, is excellent.

Reginald Titus Jr.: On point. Um, the commentary, uh, you know, there was a commentary with Reginald Hudlin. I think it's very informative. I've heard him speak, uh, very intellectual, uh, director, person. And, uh, from the beginning to end, he was just like, he was just on point with it.

Casey G. Smith: And he's, he's very personable. Like, he's, obviously, highly intelligent, knows his stuff. Again, the man went to Harvard, as we said, several times. He's also, he's also a, a nerd/geek. You know, I mentioned last episode that I'd watched a, a documentary on Milestone Comics and their resurgence. He initially was offered the chance to join Milestone back in the, back in the 90s, but he was just starting his film career at the time. And then when they revised it, he said, okay, I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. And now he's a part of that and helping mentor the next generation of, of creatives in, in that area. And he's also, at one point, was, I think, head of BET?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, that's right.

Casey G. Smith: So, I mean, this, this, this is a bad man we're messing with. Bad man.

Reginald Titus Jr.: For sure.

Casey G. Smith: Because, um, because remember BET had the Black Panther, like an animation. Mm-hm. And he was part of producing that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Well, I think he, he wrote some, some issues of, of Black Panther. Uh, I think he, he may have been the one, I don't want to, I don't want to mix it up. But yes, he actually did some writing on Black Panther as well. Wow. Um, but yeah, he's, he's staying busy. He's like, you and me combined together.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Let's go.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, what kind of, any special features? Because I, I only listened to the commentary. Did you see anything?

Casey G. Smith.: You didn't miss nothing. It's, it's slim pickings. Okay. I mean, there there's, there's a commentary and there's a couple of extended scenes with optional director commentary on those. And it's, I mean, we're talking real quick stuff that they, that they trimmed away that inconsequential. There's nothing, you know, I'm missing anything. It would be, it would have been nice to have a a making of kind of docu thing, but, no, it's, Reginald spills a good amount of information on the commentary. So you can kind of get what you need from that. But it would be nice to have some interviews from the actors, things like that. But you might be able to scoop up some of those from the, the YouTube.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I like, uh, after getting a dose of the Criterion Collection, I'm like, like, you have to have a whole film crew come back and, you know, and re, and shoot everybody, get it, like, that's a whole production.

Casey G. Smith: I would love to see a reunion, I call, on stage of, of, of these actors, like 30th anniversary reunion interview. That would be just, can you, can you imagine, man? All that talent.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Just listening to like Eddie Murphy, Martin and David Alan Grier. I would just listen to an hour of them talking.

Casey G. Smith: And Chris Rock, too.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That's right.

Casey G. Smith: Come on now. Marcus, Marcus, do you know Marcus, Marcus?

Reginald Titus Jr.: I'm coming, man. We look up to you.

Themes, Tropes & Character Analysis

Reginald Titus Jr.: I think the tone of this story, um, it, it starts out, as soon as it, as soon as the titles are, are, are popping up, you hear the, you know, this, this is a story about a famous dog. A dog that chases his tail. And then just like a, just a famous tune that, you know, Black Culture knows about, you know. Oh, yeah. Q dog stepping to that all day. And, uh, I remember the first time my dad played that in his, in his music room. I was like, what is this? My dad, he would tell me, back in the day, you know, when they dropped it, they had a, a dance called the dog, that they would do. I was like, wow. Whoa. I'm a sign. He like, then of course, he started, you know, a lot of that P funk started resurging in the 90s, especially, especially with, with Dre and Snoop.

Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, it was everywhere.

Casey G. Smith: That's the G-funk era.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Hey.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, yeah, that's what I kind of felt from a tone because you had that, that comes in, and then you have like the jazz of like, there's a tie sequence to *Boomerang*. So it kind of felt jazzy, almost like 007 kind of music. And then when it leaves the title sequence and goes to like the opening sequence where we see this, uh, corporate building, it's like some hip-hop, like modern, at the time, hip-hop playing. It's like, man, they put, like, three songs together in like a minute and a half. How they?

Casey G. Smith: So it's funny you should say that those three different styles of, of music. But I have for tone, I said it's funny, sexy and cool.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Ah, TLC.

Casey G. Smith: Crazy, sexy, cool. But this one is funny, sexy and cool. I think that, like, all three of those, like, tonal wise, like, they, they hold that down throughout.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I agree. For sure. They, they managed to to balance all of that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: What kind of style do you think, uh, Reginald was establishing in this film?

Casey G. Smith: Uh, I think, I think one thing that's also given talked about enough, especially when you're, when you're are capturing people with different skin tones, is, you know, lighting everybody where they all look great and everybody looks great. We have various shades of melanin on screen.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Everybody looks absolutely fantastic. But also, even of course, using and really displaying New York as the backdrop. If they were there on location shooting that and having sometimes things look grandiose, like there's that one scene where Jacqueline's character is walking away from Marcus after they had, you know, landed things big. Right after the the French investors or or board members had left, she's walking and then, you know, the the area is very open and wide. Same thing when Marcus first goes to the office, you can kind of see the grandioseness of it all. Um, so there's things where things are big and open, and then there's more intimate and and close scenes. Obviously, you know, like with the love scenes, things like that, but it's, I don't know, it's just, it's just all beautifully shot.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Mm-hm. How about you?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, he had a lot of long, long takes. And, yeah, well, from a direct, a photography standpoint, you know, it's like the, the lighting was even, it made them look beautified. Um, but like for example, there was a scene, uh, called I call it the after bath scene. So as all that mayhem happens in this boardroom with Grace Jones's character, um, they're all walking out. All right, we've, all right, we've come up with the name of the perfume and everything like that. And we, when they're walking out, we Dolly back with, uh, Marcus and Jacqueline. And Marcus comes up to, to our camera frame right, sits down, and he's like, it's like a profile shot. But we see like the front of, uh, Robin Gibbon, Jacqueline, Robin Gibbon's character. And she's talking about like, you know, good job and stuff like that. And he was like, yeah, we need to, you know, go through this over dinner and stuff like that. But that whole scene is like done in one take.

Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And, and he just holds it. So like there's a lot of that. Like, Spielberg does that a lot and you can, so you kind of get that style in it. You don't see that often. These days it's almost like if someone does like a whole take, it's almost like they want to bring attention, I did this in one take. And an example is, you know, *Menace II Society*, when we see them walk through the house.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: You know, and do all that. It's like, it's a big event for this long take.

Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, so yeah, so I think it's more of like a classic style.

Casey G. Smith: Okay.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So the music was composed by Marcus Miller. Um, who also did *House Party* as well.

Casey G. Smith: Ah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Well. Yes, sir.

Casey G. Smith: So Reginald bring quite a few people over from *House Party*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Nothing wrong with that.

Casey G. Smith: Nothing wrong with that. Now I think also the cinematographer was brought over from Eddie brought them over from *Harlem Nights*.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay, okay.

Casey G. Smith: Pretty, pretty cool.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And then, you know, got Tisha Campbell and Martin Lawrence from *House Party*.

Casey G. Smith: She was Tisha Campbell was hilarious. I, I, again, totally forgot she was in this, but she was, "Marcus, Marcus!" Just going in. "He'd all girl, he'd all girl." What you brought my way? My high?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Joggy stuff.

Casey G. Smith: Joggy stuff. Oh man, what?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. She was putting all in his game.

Casey G. Smith: Man, just, you know, she was like, "You want to come get some coffee?"

Reginald Titus Jr.: Not even if Jesus was pouring it.

Casey G. Smith: "Some mother, don't even know a good thing." Just going in. Jump off the brick.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh man, yeah, that was. Again, I haven't seen *House Party* in a freaking long time. Uh, but, but Grace Jones, man, she was, she was, she was bringing it in this. She's pretty hilarious. Over the top, but pretty hilarious. Well done.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Grace Jones is, I mean, in the 80s and 90s, she was, it's hard to describe. She was model, singer, actress, but whenever you saw her on screen, she was, she just owns it. Her, her presence, her mannerisms, whether it was interviews, she was just so out there and just, I mean, just powerful. Yeah. She's, she's very memorable and was out there, was wild, you know, like the character that she's playing in this film is like, kind of based. Is a caricature of her. Yeah, pretty much. And, because I remember her telling talking to stories, because she would dated Dolph Lundgren, am I saying his name right? Dolph Lundgren. Lundgren. Something like that. Uh, but yeah, talking about their dating life and how wild that was and how, you know, she's popping up out his house, you know, I'm not noticing, just screaming and yelling in the hallway and all that stuff. And, uh, but that's a big turning point. But that wasn't in the script originally. So keep working through, and you can find a better solution. Yeah, well, that was a cool turn. A realization of, I'm in love. Ha-ha. If you're so in love, then why are you here with me? Exactly, exactly. Balances. Uh, this is good film, great film. It, yeah, it's, black excellence. Like, this is black excellence. I didn't expect to like it so much.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I don't know why, why I've waited so long to go back and revisit it. I'm like, this is a hilarious film. It's, it's well done. It's a great cast. And even people that I had didn't know who they were at the time as far as, you know, their, their rise to prominence. Uh, I mean, they really, you know, got a, a nice springboard out of this. And it's, you know, good message. And, uh, yeah, it's well done.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, makes me look, you know, like want to dig through some more to see kind of some more black films because like the 90s, you know, we were trying to, you know, TV, movies, we were pushing them out.

Casey G. Smith: Out there.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, so I was like, what else is out there, I wonder. Uh-huh, with commentary. But anyhow, that was *Boomerang*. What are we going to be diving into next week?

Casey G. Smith: Next week, well that's the question. What will you do, hotshot, with the movie *Speed*?

Reginald Titus Jr.: With Keanu Reeves. Ha-ha. And Sandra Bullock. Yeah. And what? Dennis Hopper? I don't remember. I don't, I don't think I even watched it. Um, I just remember a bus. Yeah. That's, that's pretty much all you need to know. You didn't know how to control the bus. You know, you had control the bus. Speed for 500. Thank you.

Casey G. Smith: In the meantime, you can find us on facebook.com/filmmakercommentary. We're also on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher Radio, and Spotify. You can find us on Twitter. He's @ReggieTitus. I'm @KCGSmith32. We're also on the Gram @filmmakercommentary. Also on Instagram, he's @ReginaldTitusJr, that's JR. I'm @KCGSmith32. Until next time, peace.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Respect.