Boogie (2021 film)

Credits adapted from Tidal.[8]

In the United States and Canada, Boogie made $430,000 from 1,252 theaters on its first day of release. It went on to debut to $1.2 million, finishing fifth at the box office.[11] The film made $730,000 in its second weekend, remaining in fourth place.[12]

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 42% based on 81 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Boogie misses its shot with a contrived plot and uneven tone."[13] According to Metacritic, which sampled 24 critics and calculated a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, the film received "mixed or average reviews".[14] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 70% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 55% saying they would definitely recommend it.[11]

Teo Bugbee at The New York Times gave a mixed-to-positive review, writing "It's a competent movie, but it doesn't quite make it to the big leagues".[15] Chris Vognar for the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film a "sitting Little Man", roughly translating to 3/5 stars, stating that it's "refreshing to see the rare Asian American drama on the big screen, but a lot of the conflict in Boogie, on the court and off, feels undercooked."[16] Alison Willmore of Vulture gave a mixed-to-negative review, writing that the film's "ideas about Asian American identity and being Chinese in America are vague" and that "it regards Blackness with a roiling mixture of covetousness and resentment."[17]

Robert Daniels at IndieWire rated the film 'D', stating that "Eddie Huang's coming-of-age sports drama uplifts the Asian American struggle while falling into the same othering it purports to despise".[18]