Boogie Review: A Sports-Fueled Look At Dreams and Race

Release date: February 12, 2021
Running time: 89 minutes
Director: Eddie Huang 
Cast: Taylor Takahashi, Pamelyn Chee, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Dave East, Alexa Mareka, Mike Moh, Taylour Paige, Perry Yung 

The film follows a young Chinese American basketball phenom Boogie (Takahashi) who struggles to balance the expectations of his immigrant family with his own dreams of becoming a player for the NBA. 

Although Boogie focuses a lot on Chinese culture, it is a distinctly Chinese American film.  This is made clear from the first beats of the movie, with its wonderful hip hop soundtrack that hits you at the start and comes in and out throughout the film.  Boogie mostly follows the namesake character and his family, as they sacrifice, push, and dream of their son's future success.  I really liked seeing all the scenes with the family because they helped to highlight Boogie's own struggles.  He is often the most free when he is alone with his friends, but his personality completely changes when when is with his family.  This is probably a common feature among teenagers but definitely showed itself more due to Boogie's Chinese roots.

And the movie touches on a lot more subject matter than your typical coming of age story.  It blends the responsibilities and expectations of the two cultures effortlessly.  Boogie feels like a real character who is trying to come to grips with the two worlds he is in.  He keeps his Chinese traditions and duties, while still rebelling and being decidedly American.  There is an early scene where home is discussed and Boogie questions why it would be anywhere other than here (America).  This type of mindset is a perfect encapsulation of the new generation of Asian Americans growing up (and apart) from the landscape and traditions of their own families.   

But a movie about a rising basketball player must get the sports side of things right and Boogie does that as well.  The movie has some exciting basketball action, and Takahashi can definitely hold his own on the court.  But as I said, Boogie deals with more than just sports; it deals with life, expectations, and dreams.  And in that respect it feels very real.  Boogie's dream is not different than any other high school phenom, and in Boogie, the main character has all the talent to make that happen.  But the film also explores the dreams and expectations of several characters, as well as their success and failure to achieve those dreams.  It doesn't happen often, but when you get to see the conflicts that Boogie is going through reflected on the other characters it is quite enlightening.  

If Boogie bricks some layups, it is in some of the line delivery and the end of the story.  Some of the lines just do not feel natural, and I am not sure if it is the writing or the characters that are the problem.  There is plenty of fantastic dialogue and insights in this movie, so these one off air balls can be forgiven.  But the ending of the film also feels anticlimactic, and I would have greatly appreciated a scene or two to highlight what happened.  But don't let that dissuade you from this really wonderful film.

Boogie scores some easy points with its realistic setting and wonderful characters and uses sports to explore issues of race, dreams, and realities.   

Watch it.

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Boogie is in theaters on March 5, 2021.  For showtimes, click here.

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