His parents named him Alfred when he was born: Alfred Chin. That name alone would make life kinda difficult in your average high school. Luckily for him, though, he developed some serious basketball skills and became known for his hustle. So the nickname “Boogie” became a nice fit early on, and it stuck.
So when Boogie transfers to City Prep in Queens, N.Y., thats all anyone knows him as. That, and as a basketball phenom who might actually help their team win for a change.
But that’s not really why he’s here. In fact, he couldn’t care less about this school and its team or what any of the students or teachers think.
The fact is, nobody in the sports world really takes an Asian basketball player seriously. Even though he’s good enough, the big colleges won’t offer him a scholarship. And if he wants to get the NBA to take notice, then being part of a big-school team is a necessity.
That’s why he’s at City Prep. There’s a local player with a rival school named Monk who has the college scouts buzzing. And if Boogie can get on the court with that guy and shut him down, there’s no way colleges can keep from shooting offers his way.
There’s just one problem. Boogie has a temper. His always-fighting parents, the weight of his family’s debt, his Chinese ancestry, they all add up to a heavy weight of responsibility. And it all sits on his shoulders. It makes him angry. And if he’s not careful, he just might blow at the wrong time.
Boogie does have a lot of pressure on him, and that makes him self-focused and generally unpleasant much of the time. But he meets a pretty student named Eleanor who helps ease his anger. In spite of their cultural differences, the two of them have an easy connection. And she brings out all of Boogie’s good attributes: his thoughtful side and a gentleness few others see.
Boogie’s father is also a hot-headed guy who tends to bounce in and out of jail regularly. But he seems to understand his son. And he works to help Boogie chase his NBA dreams. (It’s part of his plan to have Boogie transfer schools.)
Boogie eventually accepts the idea that it’s better to win as a team rather than lose as a lone wolf. And a fortune teller reinforces the idea that he must make decisions for himself and not for others.
In a flashback, Boogie’s parents go to a fortune teller to seek insight into the future so they can decide whether or not to marry and keep the child they’re expecting. The fortune teller has no future knowledge to reveal, but she does offer wise relationship advice, suggesting that love and respect can “melt the sharpest sword.” Years later, Boogie unknowingly returns to that same fortune teller for a reading. And again she offers similar sound advice.
Boogie’s dad makes several references to Jesus, but always in a derisive light. For instance, he scoffs at a former athelete because the man once gave credit to Jesus after his win.
When first meeting Eleanor, Boogie is instantly attracted. And he boldly eyes her, staring at her spread crotch when exercizing in a co-ed gym class and making some rude comments when she calls him out on it. In spite of that, and with continued bold flirting, they become a couple. Later, when they’re alone together in her room, she offers him oral sex. They talk about their previous sexual experience. He exposes himself (just off camera). And after kissing they begin to engage in sex as the camera cuts away.
We later find out that Eleanor and Monk once dated. That cocky player makes crass comments about his sexual experiences with her and calls her by a purposely crude nickname.
Boogie and his friend Richie talk about sex and family issues. “My dad’s Dominican. So you know I never met him,” Richie declares. Richie also makes some crude sexual comments at different times, comparing, for example, a girl’s sleeves to used condoms. A high school girl gazes at Boogie and declares he’s all swag and sex appeal. Another uses some crude Chinese references to allude to his genitalia.
Boogie and Eleanor kiss several times.
Some of the basketball play, especially at a local park court, can get a little violent as players physically slam into one another. One guy goes down with a potentially blown-out knee.
There are several light scuffles between teens. But the real violence comes from Boogie’s father who punches a man in the face and then beats on the guy once he falls. Boogie’s mother repeatedly slaps his face when she wants to get his attention and make her point.
Some 50 f-words, 25 s-words and 10 n-words are mixed throughout the script along with uses of “b–ch,” “d–n” and “h—.” There are references made to male genitalia. And God’s name is blasphemed once in combination with “d–n.”
Boogie smokes several times, and at one point it appears that he’s smoking a joint. A guy drinks an Asian beer. Richie flirts with a high school girl who offers to huff spray paint with him.
An uncle of Boogie’s declares that he has irritable bowel syndrome. And there are several crude jokes made about that condition. Boogie shows his coach quite a bit of disrespect and refuses to work with the team and follow through on the coaches’ play calls. Eventually, though, he’s called to task on his choices and his father forces him to publicly apologize.
A young couple calls their unborn baby a mistake.
The ranks of sports movies are replete with mediocre, formulaic tales. Boogie is yet another. The only difference with this pic is that the teen protagonist who must eventually become a team player and win the day is a young guy of Chinese dissent.
That Chinese-American focus is interesting, and if handled differently it could have made this pic far more compelling. But the predictable storyline is as bald as an ancient pair of hightops. The one-dimensional protagonist—with a chip on his shoulder the size of an average gymnasium—is difficult to root for. And on top of all that, there’s enough foul, profane language here to make a hard-nosed coach blanch.
Early on in the film, Boogie the basketball star growls out that his team is “hot trash!” And well, Boogie the film ain’t far off that mark either.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
