Review: Eddie Murphy’s “Coming 2 America”
Nostalgic sequels are all the rage in modern day Hollywood. Sometimes, they prove to be worthy follow-ups, like Blade Runner 2049 or Creed. Other times, audiences are forced to sit through mindless cash-ins like Dumb and Dumber To that ultimately sully the memory of the original. But regardless of the rollercoaster of quality, these sequels keep coming, and one of the most ambitious to date, Eddie Murphy’s Coming 2 America, just released on Amazon last week.
The hype for this project has been building for several years, especially considering it was something that Murphy often discussed as a possibility, well before it ever became a reality. The original Coming to America remains one of the comedian’s most beloved features. The obvious issue here is that the film didn’t really need a sequel. The story of the first movie was fairly self-contained and was nicely wrapped up. Murphy’s Prince Akeem wanted to find true and honest love, so he traveled to America under the guise of “sowing his royal oats” and did just that. By the end of the picture, everyone came together to celebrate Prince Akeem and his queen from Queens, Lisa. And given that happiest of endings, there wasn’t much story left to tell.
That, in and of itself, is the biggest problem with Coming 2 America: it feels forced. There is nothing about the first film that is screaming, or even whispering, for that matter, for a sequel. There were no dangling plot threads or anything else to really latch onto. As such, the sequel had to come up with its own reason for existing, which is equal parts refreshing and bothersome, as it is pleasant that the creative team came up with a unique story, but all of the links to the original movie remind the viewer that this is an extraneous story.
That said, Coming 2 America is rather enjoyable. It’s the promised return to form for Eddie Murphy, who had a slew of misfires in the 2000’s that led him to back away from the spotlight for most of the last decade. It shows that Murphy still has the comedic chops that he became known for, and much like Dolemite Is My Name, it’s concise story that proves that Murphy is at his best when he’s not surrounding with gimmicky material.
The story sees Prince Akeem, now the king after his father’s passing at the start, returning to America to retrieve the son he never knew had, the result of a one night stand he was too stoned to remember, in order to protect his throne from a hostile takeover by the warmongering General Izzi, played by a game Wesley Snipes, from a neighboring country. Things go as expected, with his son, Lavelle, being mistrustful of the African king, but quickly changing his tune at the promise of riches beyond his imagination as a part of the Zamundan royal family. After all, who wouldn’t want to spend money with their face on it?
And this hits on the whole concept behind the film, as it’s not so much the fish-out-of-water episodic journey of a wayward African prince figuring out life in America, as it is a cultural clash of a staunchly American family being forced to live in an environment they know nothing about. Jermaine Fowler portrays the unsuspecting prince of Zamunda well, and his transformation from street urchin to a regal lord is fun to watch. Likewise are the interactions of his mother and uncle, played by Leslie Jones and Tracey Morgan, respectively, with the various royals of Zamunda. It’s essentially the same story as the first, just in reverse, with a cast of kooky characters making grand assumptions about a culture they know little about.
Another big plus is the integration of the all the multiple characters that Murphy, and his comedic partner Arsenio Hall, played in the original. The humorous semi-racist barbershop trio (who might possibly be immortal Gods as it makes no sense how they are still alive in the timeline), Murphy’s awful crooner, and Hall’s creepy preacher, to name a few, make pleasant appearances that bring about warm fuzzies every time they are on the screen. These characters greatly add to the fun and appeal of the movie, though most of the enjoyment comes from remembering what they did and said in the original. However, there are times when the addition of the past characters becomes problematic, like when the rapping twins that Akeem once had a blind date with randomly show up with the same old routine. It feels shoehorned and doesn’t really work.
But for all focus on established characters, there are plenty of new faces, and none shines as brightly as Wesley Snipes. It’s clear the action star is having a ball, as he hams it up to great effect, literally dancing into every room in which he walks. While he’s the clear antagonist, it’s hard to dislike the bombastic dictator, who has a bit of an understandable grudge as it was his sister who got left at the alter in the first film. But Snipes has a magnetism that steals the spotlight anytime he’s on the screen, bar a bad joke about child soldiers.
Truly, everyone who comes along for the ride, whether they be a new addition, or a classic character, seems to be having fun, and it comes across. Coming 2 America is a labor of love for the cast, and it shows, in everything but the rushed love story between Lavelle and his hairdresser. This plot is both easy to spot, yet still comes out of left field, and it happens SO fast that it’s hard to take seriously. One second the pair are having, perhaps, their second conversation ever in a garden outside the palace, and the next they are running back to Queens to elope. It a hamfisted attempt to reverse replicate the story from the original and it’s really a letdown.
Overall, Coming 2 America is a harmless follow-up that’s better than it has any right to be. It’s a fun watch, if only to see Murphy and everyone so thoroughly enjoying themselves. The story is a little trite, and it’s very easy to anticipate, but that doesn’t matter. The humor is on point, and it doesn’t come close to matching the magic of the original, but again, that’s okay, as it’s just good enough that the problem areas are easy to overlook.
