Boogie Review

Boogie

Dir: Eddie Huang

Starring: Taylor Takahashi, Taylour Paige, Pamelyn Chee, Perry Yung, and Pop Smoke

 

There is an undeniable formula that composes the structure of a basketball sports film. You'll often have a headstrong coach, a talented superstar who must understand their true potential and seemingly insurmountable odds that the team must come together to defeat. "Hoosiers," "He Got Game," and "Hoop Dreams," while entirely different basketball movies, still each embody the formula but in different ways. At the center of all these films are characters just like Alfred "Boogie" Chin (Taylor Takahashi), talented young men trying to balance the harsh realities of the world with the dream of playing basketball on the professional level. 

 

What separates writer/director Eddie Huang's film "Boogie" from other sports films it resembles is you don't often see basketball stories told from the perspective of a Chinese American protagonist. Huang understands the teenage sports melodrama, taking the familiar elements we are accustomed to and weaving components of culture, tradition, family dysfunction, and adolescent insecurity into the spaces that will ultimately frame the sports formula being manipulated.

 

Boogie has just transferred to a new elite private high school, one with a losing basketball record and desperate need for a superstar to lead them into the winning bracket. Boogie, however, is more concerned with how this opportunity can help him gain more exposure and help him receive a full scholarship from a top-ranked university. Boogie isn't just eyeballing a college scholarship, he has dreams of playing in the NBA and hopes of helping his family get out of the constant financial struggle they have been in since he was born. 

 

Boogie’s brash ego complicates the route into a college program. He is consistently at odds with his coach (Domenick Lombardozzi) to the point that he gets kicked off the bench and sent to the locker room because of his attitude and defiance; all this happens in clear view of a college scout who is watching from the bleachers. Making matters worse are Boogie's dysfunctional parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chin (Perry Yung and Pamelyn Chee), who continually tear into one another and often use Boogie as the bargaining vessel for their anger and frustration. Both parents see a life for Boogie that is strictly their own.

 

Huang does a great job of composing the core relationships for Boogie. When the family is sitting around the dinner table, talking about the future and what Boogie might do to make it to the next level, they are wonderfully composed. Pamelyn Chee, playing Boogie's mom, is completely convincing in her cold and impatient demeanor. Perry Yung, playing Boogie's dad, also has a few shining moments, one in particular when he talks about the importance of the 1989 French Open match between Michael Chang and Ivan Lendl, he calls it "the greatest moment in Asian American history." 

 

However, the film's shining star belongs to Boogie's love interest, Paige, played with confidence and energy by Taylour Paige. Her character challenges Boogie, forcing him to see beyond the self-pity of a problematic family, uncertain future ambitions, and the cultural identity that consistently plays a role in Boogie's decisions. Taylour Paige is magnetic throughout the film.

 

Unfortunately, even with such interesting characters, the narrative is a mess of unnecessary sports and teenage melodrama troupes that undermine Huang's realistic and authentic approach. The pacing fluctuates; in one moment, you are provided a fascinating conversation about race and growing up in strict cultural boundaries. In the next moment, you get a lackluster basketball scene that is devoid of energy or tension. For a film that balances much of the dramatic stakes for Boogie on a basketball game against a city legend named Monk, the first and final performance from Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke, killed in February 2020, the build-up doesn't work. The showdown feels like an average regular-season game instead of the championship it should resemble. 

 

Eddie Huang displays an engaging filmmaking style that will hopefully continue to develop as he makes more movies. The characters are fascinating to watch, and the story of a young man trying to carve a path through culture, family issues, and adolescence can be amusing from Huang's perspective. Unfortunately, "Boogie" struggles most with finding a balance between these elements and the sports story it is trying to tell.

 

Monte's Rating

2.75 out of 5.00

Chuck Review

 

Chuck

Dir: Phillipe Falardeau

Cast: Liev Schreiber, Elisabeth Moss, Naomi Watts, Ron Perlman, Jim Gaffigan, Michael Rappaport, Pooch Hall, and Morgan Spector

Do you recognize the name Chuck Wepner? What if I told you that Chuck Wepner was a boxer who went the distance in the ring with Mohammad Ali when "The Greatest" was in his prime, in the first fight after Ali defeated George Foreman in Zaire in "The Rumble in the Jungle". Ring any bells? Sounds unbelievable right? Sounds like something out of a movie? Well, if you've seen the film "Rocky" then you've seen the film inspired by Chuck Wepner.

"Give the White Guy A Break", that's how boxing promoter Don King billed the fight between Wepner and Ali. The fight had everything good sports stories are made of, a blue collar underdog going up against a sports icon with a loud mouth, a scrappy fighter known for taking a punch (Wepner was nicknamed the "Bayonne Bleeder") verse a flashy fighter known for giving a punch, and at its core a fight that had more to do with the racial divide than it did for the talents of the fighters. The surprise of the whole thing, Wepner made it 15 rounds and knocked Ali down to the ground. 

Director Phillipe Falardeau isn't so much concerned with the big fight, it plays a role as an early first act transition. What is emphasized is Wepner's life after the fight, the fame from the unexpected hit film "Rocky", the indulgence of women and drugs, and of course the subsequent fall from fame and the spotlight. Regardless of how much Mr. Falardeau tries to tell a different boxing story, the film still utilizes many of the familiar motifs found in sports/boxing films. But, just like Chuck Wepner, the film puts up a pretty good fight.

Liev Schreiber plays the embattled boxer, a liquor salesman one day and a local folk hero the next day, with charm and confidence. It's a quality that makes it all the more difficult to watch the character when mistakes are made over and over again. In one of the most cringe-worthy scenes Chuck is given an opportunity to try out for the "Rocky" sequel by Sylvester Stallone (played convincingly by Morgan Spector), his addictions ruin the opportunity. Mr. Schreiber maintains a grounded performance throughout that gives the character surprising appeal amidst his extensive flaws.

Elisabeth Moss plays Chuck's diligent and patient wife Phyliss with the steadfast hope that her unfaithful husband will change his ways, and when he doesn't she becomes a woman determined to never be stepped on again. Naomi Watts shows up for a supportive role as Chuck's new girl Linda, a woman unwilling to commit to a man who won't change or see that life has a different purpose than remaining relevant. It's a small role but Ms. Watts does a good job of creating quick chemistry with the Mr. Schreiber. Also making appearances are Jim Gaffigan as Chuck's best friend, Ron Perlman as his trainer, and Michael Rappaport as his brother. It's a good cast all playing support to Mr. Schrieber's lead. 

Unfortunately as the film begins to delve into Wepner's downfall, the interesting character bits begin to disappear in favor of the standard biopic sentiments that gloss over a lifetime of information in order to show the upward trajectory for the character in the end. While Mr. Schreiber's performance and voice over narration help when the film begins to wane, the familiarity and compliance to never explore the fighting character more than surface interactions prevents the film from having a lasting effect. 

Monte's Rating

3.00 out of 5.00

McFarland, USA Review

McFarland, USA

Dir: Niki Caro

Starring: Kevin Costner, Carlos Pratts, Maria Bello, Ramiro Rodriguez, Johnny Ortiz, Rafael Martinez, Hector Duran, Sergio Avelar, Elsie Fisher, and Morgan Saylor

Rated PG

128 Minutes

How do you make a cross-country running film interesting? You hire an accomplished director and utilize Disney’s tried and true sports movie formula. Get a group of underdogs, add insurmountable odds, base it on true events and that’s the groundwork for this successful formula. “Glory Road”, “Miracle”, and “Remember the Titans” are just a few of the sports movies viewers still mention when listing their favorite sport themed films. It’s not a complicated form by any means but this structure works by combining heartfelt and uplifting sentiments. Director Niki Caro utilizes culture to assist in establishing the dynamic between the characters and the society that defines them.  Though more could have been done with this topic it doesn’t hinder “McFarland, USA” from being an enjoyably simplistic film.

Coach Jim White is moving his family to a small California community after an altercation with a player during a football game that lead to his dismissal. Desperate for teachers, McFarland High School hires White, or “Blanco” as his predominantly Hispanic students refer to him, for a staff position. White and his family are greeted with open arms in the community, though it is a bit of a culture shock for them. White notices that the students work hard, most of them assisting the family in the picking fields, and run everywhere they go. White proposes that the school start a cross county team, a first of its kind in 1987.

A mountain, an early adversary for these young runners, plays an obvious metaphor. Whether the conflict of being more than a field worker or understanding the conflicts of a broken home, nothing comes easy for these young men and Coach White recognizes this early on. Though the community of McFarland is poor they are also rich in heart, taking pride in important matters like family and community. Director Niki Caro understands these bonds and utilizes them within the primary physical attribute of the sport they are participating in, which is ultimately endurance. These young men understand this situation, some even becoming complaisant with the life being shaped without their input, but they endure for more than themselves. They endure for their family. And when they become a team, they endure for each other. Till finally, during the course of the race, the runners recognize they must endure for themselves. It’s a simple narrative device that Caro implements and for the most part it works effectively. However, there are other aspects to this story that are underutilized. Violence exists for a brief moment in only one scene and any approach to a realistic understanding of the world these kids grow up in is left in the background, but that’s another movie completely.

Kevin Costner has always been good as the surly sympathetic kind, here providing the brash speeches of tough love while quietly exhibiting the caring side of his personality. Costner is always good at making everyone better as well. Scenes with the young cast, especially Carlos Pratts who is the most dramatic character of the young actors, are assisted by Costner’s skill but each of the actors fit their specific roles with ease.

“McFarland, USA” aims to present a series of uplifting moments with just enough surface level complications to make the journey meaningful. Any exploration of deeper correlations within the characters and the society and culture they are living in are relegated to supportive attributes. This film simply aims at being a purely entertaining sports movie, to which it succeeds.

Monte’s Rating

3.50 out of 5.00