Metascore
45 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 19
  2. Negative: 4 out of 19
  1. 90
    Boomerang is the funniest, most sophisticated movie of Eddie Murphy's career; it's a sleek, dexterous satire, with a slew of rich comic performances that remind us of everything we loved about Murphy in the first place.
  2. Reviewed by: Joe Brown
    80
    The movie benefits from a stylish, high-gloss look, a hit-filled soundtrack and up-to-the-minute dialogue (there's even a Korean shop-owner joke) that feels winningly off the cuff.
  3. 75
    The real surprise of the movie is Eddie Murphy, who finds his character and stays with him.
  4. 75
    Boomerang, a sleek, confident and very funny urban comedy that may not entirely overcome Murphy's more discomfiting tendencies, but at least manages to put them to good use. [01 Jul 1992]
  5. Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    75
    The movie then becomes a story of salvation: how Murphy's Marcus, through the love of a better woman (Halle Berry) manages to rediscover both his decency and his humanity. And yet, pretty much, it stays funny. [01 Jul 1992]
  6. The general idea is to exploit a certain amount of role reversal, and Reginald Hudlin, who directed "House Party," does a fairly good job of making this fun.
  7. Reviewed by: Ted Mahar
    67
    It is thoughtful and well enough acted throughout. [03 Jul 1992]
  8. Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    63
    More interesting than entertaining and too long by far.
  9. Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    63
    The result is a megabudget "House Party" -- amiable, colorful, filled with glamour and style. [01 Jul 1992]
  10. Reviewed by: lloyd Bradley
    60
    This is cornily predictable stuff, but it raises itself on a number of counts, with Murphy's transformation from a self-assured cocksman to bewildered, lovesick drip being approached with greater gusto than might be expected.
  11. Murphy seems committed to pushing his hostile vision, and that in itself is interesting. [01 Jul 1992]
  12. Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    50
    The movie, though, is more of the same: another current comedy with want-to-see elements that fails to deliver the goods. [01 Jul 1992]
  13. The funniest parts of this uneven, ostentatiously upscale comedy are those that find Mr. Murphy's Marcus adopting the behavior of a sexually insecure woman.
  14. The pace is a little too languid, and the vulgarity a little too frequent, for the movie to work as intended.
  15. Reviewed by: Lawrence Cohn
    40
    The film might have worked if the thoroughly selfish characters were striving after something.
  16. 25
    What Murphy's doing isn't acting; it's masturbation.
  17. Occasionally, Murphy cuts loose with an ad-libbed riff that's almost funny, but then it's back to the slim-fast plot and the stick-on crudities. [03 Jul 1992]
  18. A film that is more listless than funny and could surely use some of the energy that animated both Art Buchwald and Paramount Pictures in the lawsuit surrounding authorship of [Eddie Murphy]'s 1988 "Coming to America." [01 Jul 1992]
  19. It's not even funny. Nor does it contain half the wit or charm as the old Doris Day sex comedies it so resembles.