As for “Boomerang,” seen 30 years later, the women’s big hair and shoulder pads make it look dated, while Marcus’ sexism and slapstick homophobia in the film are shocking. But I was also reminded why my 17-year-old self was so drawn to the movie in the first place. “When Harry Met Sally” may have modernized the rom-com genre dynamic for my generation, but Jacqueline was an outlier. Her work ethic, confidence, intelligence, and medium brown complexion were rare in a Hollywood that almost never featured African-American women as romantic protagonists.
And that was all Robin Givens. I first fell in love with her when she played Darlene Merriman, the hyper-competitive, sharp-tongued, well-dressed college student in the mostly white honor class on the ABC sitcom “Head of the Class.” As an awkward black girl in a predominantly white high school, I over-identified with characters in similar situations like Darlene or Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies) from the sitcom “Saved by the Bell.” But unlike Lisa, who never seemed to have a love interest, Darlene always seemed in charge, which made me want to emulate her fashion sense and the ease with which she showed her spirit and his smile.
Despite Givens’ popularity on this show, when “Boomerang” premiered in 1992, it was his comeback vehicle. The star, a prodigy who enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College at 15 and planned to go to medical school before becoming a full-time actress, married heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson in 1988, just six months old after meeting him, at the peak of his career. . When she ended their year-long marriage, she was publicly caricatured as a gold digger seeking fame and wealth.
I remember when the stereotype really took hold. I was 13 and watching 20/20 interview Givens and Tyson did with Barbara Walters in September 1988. Sitting next to an obviously subdued Tyson, Givens revealed that he was a “manic-depressive” who had repeatedly physically assaulted her. Her admission that her time with him had been “torture, pure hell, worse than anything I could imagine” elicited little sympathy from the public in those pre-#MeToo days.
After their divorce a few months later, Givens’ career was never the same. “Robin was very controversial casting,” Hudlin said in the audio commentary that commemorated the film’s 10th anniversary. “A lot of people were nervous that there was a lot of dislike in public because of her past with Mike Tyson. But, I thought that made her perfect for the role, that she was this great person and a match for Eddie Murphy, who also had a fearless reputation as a ladies’ man, added: “I wanted the audience to feel like it was going to be a fair fight.”
