Boogie
focus featuresEddie Huang's feature directorial debut Boogie finds a messy identity that blends personal drama with cliches of the sports film genre. Clearly drawing from Huang's own life experiences growing up in an Asian American household that can at times be torn apart by expectations and dysfunction, the heart of Boogie feels like an authentic expression but quickly the film derails into a toxically masculine basketball rivalry which causes the film to fall nearly completely flat overall.
The largest issue within the film's screenplay, which also comes from Eddie Huang, is simply how unlikeable it is. In nearly every aspect of the film, Huang builds a world filled with off-putting characters and unsympathetic situations that makes it near impossible for the audience to truly care or root for the characters found throughout this world. Take the scene where Boogie (Taylor Takahashi) first meets Eleanor (Taylour Paige), who will go on to be the romantic interest for the rest of the film. The introduction to this relationship and these characters comes from inside the school gym where Boogie and his friend watch Eleanor work out and decide to hit on her by making objectifying comments on her body in a clearly misplaced celebration of the gross straight male mindset. Even if this is closer to reality than one might hope, the conscious choice to use this type of dialogue and mindset to set up the protagonist of the story speaks to the immaturity found throughout the film.
This toxicity is also found in the rivalry featured between Boogie and rival Basketball player Monk (played by the late Pop Smoke). The film uses toxic masculinity to build the rivalry between these two, with both physically threatening each other, that fails to benefit the story in any sense. Due to the weaker screenplay and genuinely poor performance from Taylor Takahashi at the center of the film, at no point did it feel like this conflict mattered in the slightest and at every point where the film would feature these two characters getting at each other's throats, not only would the film create a headache but the desire for the film to return to its more engaging side would become strong.
Perhaps the most frustrating part of Boogie isn't even the lows it reaches but, instead, the highs it ignores. For a film so clearly meant for a young male audience, the movie confusingly has a deeper connection to family and overcoming dysfunction, specifically through an Asian American lens, which is clearly where the film finds the most momentum. Within this is a challenging yet rewarding family dynamic that will push audiences of all ages in different ways and feels both powerful and unique. Consistently however, the film throws this focus to the side not just settling for an incredibly weaker and more annoying plot but also giving the film a fundamental confusion regarding its own identity. Boogie is a film for both everyone and no one. The immature take on masculinity will speak to younger male audiences but the same audiences will find themselves bored and disconnected due to the more intimate family drama. Older audiences might find a power and realism within the family dynamics, but also then will fail to connect with the immature drama and lose interest also rather quickly. The film tries to find a balance that would be rewarding to both sides of the spectrum but in this struggle, the film more than likely will manage to lose both audiences.
Boogie is a film that simply is impossible to recommend. Not only was the film simply boring and unenjoyable, but its confused identity leads to an experience that seemingly will satisfy no individual audience member completely. Especially as the film is coming out exclusively in theaters and the process of going to a theater can literally be deadly, this is simply not worth the effort or risk required for seeking it out.
