The consensus on Boomerang is lukewarm rather than hostile. Most critics find a slick, intermittently funny sex comedy with a decent run of laughs, and the praise clusters firmly around the supporting cast, who are credited with giving the film most of its energy. Variety singles out Geoffrey Holder, John Witherspoon, Grace Jones and Eartha Kitt as scene stealers, and Radio Times says much the same of the ensemble. Murphy himself is thought to be in good form, with Empire particularly enjoying his turn as a lovesick fool.
The reservations are about shape and about Murphy. The reviews call it overlong, patchy and, in the harsher cases, weighed down by shallow, sexist characters. The spread is wide, from warm to dismissive. The Los Angeles Times is the sharpest dissenter, arguing that Murphy’s move towards romantic leads squanders his comic gifts and that he will not play the cad the story needs.