'Coming to America 2’ review: Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall, back to Zamunda for some nostalgic movie tourism
It’s hard to imagine what someone who hasn’t seen the original Coming to America — which, let’s not forget, came out 33 years ago — would make of its sequel. It’s been more than a few years since Hollywood’s obsession with franchising everything prompted the industry to start reaching back to the dormant legacies of titles from the 1980s and ’90s. But at least new films like Mad Max: Fury Road and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle attempt to reinvent and redefine (I am trying very hard not to say “reboot”) their stories and characters for the current moment.
Coming 2 America, which premieres on Amazon Prime Video this week, by contrast, practically demands encyclopedic recall of the original; it exists mainly as a vessel to reunite characters and redo classic bits from the first Coming to America (which, by the way, is also currently and conveniently available on Amazon Prime Video). That’s kind of the key to the new film’s rickety charm, even if that also means it’s doomed to live forever in the shadow of its megasuccessful original.
Reclaiming the spirit of the first Coming to America might not be as simple as it sounds. Back in 1988, Eddie Murphy was probably the biggest comedy star on the planet, and a lot of his most successful stand-up from that era has dated so preposterously that it could now be its own meta-humor bit. Coming to America was never as raw as, say, Eddie Murphy Raw, of course, but watching the new movie’s opening scene of a now-middle-aged Prince Akeem of Zamunda (Murphy) and his wife Lisa (Shari Headley) being awakened by their three daughters wishing them a happy anniversary, one is reminded that in the original, it was a very single Prince Akeem being awakened by his three naked, beautiful female attendants on the morning of his 21st birthday. It’s not just that things have changed. It’s that the new scene has been shot and cut to echo the original scene, so it only really works if we are aware of how much things have changed; otherwise we might wonder why this new film is dwelling so awkwardly on each daughter politely saying, “Good morning, mother and father” to their parents.
The story of the sequel also directly relates to that earlier trip Prince Akeem and his close friend and adviser Semmi (Arsenio Hall) took to the U.S. lo these many years ago. Akeem needs a male heir to inherit his throne, or his kingdom will be in danger of falling into the hands of a strongman, General Izzi (a terrific Wesley Snipes), the preening, strutting, kilt-wearing warlord of neighboring Nextdoria who spends his free time reading storybooks to his army of child soldiers. (Izzi’s sister was betrothed to Akeem in Coming to America, and she’s still barking like a dog — another hilarious throwaway bit that will make literally zero sense to anyone who hasn’t seen the first film fairly recently.) Akeem, who only has daughters, discovers that he actually has a son, Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler), whom he fathered out-of-wedlock back in New York during a zonked-out, half-remembered (and quite possibly nonconsensual on his part, which may understandably raise some eyebrows) coupling with party girl Mary (Leslie Jones). So, naturally, he and Semmi head back to New York to locate the young fellow and take him back to Zamunda to have his spot as preferred choice to the seat.
At the end of the day, Coming 2 America is both metaphorically and in a real sense a wistfulness visit. Akeem and Semmi land in similar Queens neighborhood as in the past, and obviously it has improved to excess — save for the actually standing, still-feeble My-T-Sharp barbershop, actually populated with its threesome of politically mistaken, windbag hair stylists Mr. Clarence (likewise Murphy), Morris (additionally Hall), and Sweets (long-lasting Murphy partner Clint Smith), just as their unceasing client, Saul (likewise Murphy). One may envision that Murphy, Hall, and their group would attempt to sneak through a minefield of conceivably dangerous humor here, however no, they kind of joyously step on all the mines. The barbershop welcomes Akeem and Semmi with a good "Hello, it's Kunta Kinte and Ebola!" and follows that up with "Starvation and Blood Diamond!" and "Nelson Mandela and Winnie!" Whereupon an irregular client rings in with "Those ravenous infants with the flies on their appearances!" and out of nowhere everybody goes stone-confronted. "You talk that sort of poop about the ravenous children, you better escape my seat," Mr. Clarence says, and quickly kicks the person out. These gabby elderly people men might be distant, yet even they have their cutoff points.
The jokes, as such, are the joke here. It's a sharp method to cut out some room — a protected space, maybe — for this kind of humor, an approach to humor it while recognizing that you know it's not altogether legitimate any longer. (That the imaginative group here, including chief Craig Brewer, is important for the very gathering that in some way or another effectively explored Dolemite Is My Name, a bright, winning biopic about scandalously indecent and dubious affront comic Rudy Ray Moore, shouldn't be lost on us.) It feels as though Murphy has listened to all individuals on the planet contending that "you can't make comedies about X any longer" and has been contemplating internally, Well, right?
This isn't to say that Coming 2 America is some scum bucket edgelord dream of politically unsatisfactory humor. In truth, it's excessively comfortable and shoddily genial for that, more event than film. Akeem was at that point a straight man in the primary film — Murphy by and large saved his best gags for different characters he played — yet he totally floats through this one, letting his response shots do what minimal hard work is required. A nice piece of the image is offered over to melodic numbers, some from veteran demonstrations like Salt-N-Pepa, Gladys Knight, and En Vogue. Concerning the story, in the long run we get Lavelle and his mother Mary's poor unfortunate soul venture in the regal circles of Zamunda, where they make a great many violation of social norms and where Lavelle ends up with a sentimental difficulty that reflects Akeem's from the first: He should wed Izzi's little girl (Teyana Taylor) to benefit the realm, yet falls rather for his imperial hair stylist (South African star Nomzamo Mbatha). Once more, it doesn't feel like the producers composed another content to such an extent as they just … revised the old content.
The best new things in Coming 2 America are likewise, unusually, the most noticeably terrible new things in Coming 2 America. Kills' colorful warlord basically gets everyone's attention (much as his vainglorious chief character took Dolemite), yet the show doesn't take him back. Izzi is given basically nothing to do aside from appear, jeer a couple of dangers, and afterward vanish. Truly, he does this remarkably, yet his quality feels cut: The content really is by all accounts setting up a greater, more awful part for him. A late-breaking endeavor to give him more to do narratively is promptly snuffed out, as though the creation acknowledged it didn't actually have the opportunity or the cash for a totally different subplot. Additionally, Tracy Morgan, playing Lavelle's hawker uncle, gets a couple of deviant jokes and will emcee one last service, however that is about it. Until you understand that in the realm of Coming 2 America, that is essentially all anybody is approached to do.
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