Coming 2 America

Coming 2 America
Starring Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones
Directed by Craig Brewer

The 1980s was one of the best decades for movies in the history of cinema. Classics like "Ghostbusters," "Back to the Future," "The Outsiders," "The Lost Boys," "Gremlins," "Beverly Hills Cop," "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," "E.T." and so many others were released in that decade, along with "Coming to America," a fantastic, hilarious film about a prince from a fictional African nation who comes to America to find the woman of his dreams. The film was met with critical and audience acclaim, and many claim it's the best film of Eddie Murphy's fantastic resume (I personally wouldn't put it first, but top five for sure). Ever since then, talks of a sequel had been talked about, but as the years...and decades...moved on, we were sure we'd never visit the land of Zamunda again. Then - thirty-three years later - Amazon acquired the rights to "Coming 2 America," and the sequel is what you'd expect: a relic of comedies past that just isn't funny anymore, a film that rehashes pretty much everything the original did, and did so with a much weaker result.

Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) is about to become King of Zamunda, but he's never sired a male heir, which is the law of the land. He's concerned that his neighboring warlord leader General Izzi (Wesley Snipes) will assassinate him when he takes office, because his offer of having his son marry Akeem's eldest daughter Meeka (KiKi Layne) was rejected. Then he learns that when he went to Queens to find his future wife Lisa (Shari Headley) he had a fling with Mary Junson (Leslie Jones), and sired an illegitimate son. Together with his best friend Semmi (Arsenio Hall), the two return to Queens to find his son, and discovers his name is Lavelle Junson (Jermaine Fowler), a peddler who hasn't held down a job.

Upon returning to Zamunda with Lavelle and Mary, King Akeem begins to train Lavelle on how to become a prince, putting him through different tests to the chagrin and dismay of Meeka, who should've been the rightful heir if not for the fact that she was a female. General Izzi returns and offers his daughter to Lavelle, which he accepts, but first he has to complete the tests to become a prince. Its during this time he falls for Mirembe (Nomzamo Mbatha), the royal groomer, and is torn between his love for Mirembe and for uniting the two countries in peace and harmony - as well as feeling like he's in over his head in a new country.

I don't understand why long-gestating sequels exist in the first place, as there's hardly any of them that were even halfway decent, with the notable exceptions being horror ("Halloween"), action ("Bad Boys for Life"), and animated ("Toy Story 3"). There's hardly any comedy sequels that have lived up to their original counterpart, and the longer between films the less funny it becomes. Comedies seem to be trapped in their own time loop, offering the same type of humor that made the original such a classic masterpiece, but peoples' tastes have changed in the decades since, and that type of humor won't hunt monsignor. The jokes in the film fell flat about 99.9% of the time, and I can only remember chuckling probably one or two times tops, but there was a saving grace to this film: it felt like it zoomed by quickly. At almost two hours, it could've been a long, drawn-out affair, but instead it felt like only a half hour or so whizzed by - or maybe that was because I wasn't fully concentrated on what was happening on screen.

To even call "Coming 2 America" a sequel is a bit of a stretch, because it feels more like a modern-day rehashing of the previous film. The first film centered around then-Prince Akeem falling for American girl Lisa and went against all the odds for their love story to flourish. Now, American future-Prince Lavelle falls in love with Zamunda hairdresser Mirembe, despite his arranged marriage to a rival nation's daughter, and went against all odds for their love story to flourish. The difference here (besides the locations being reversed) is that Eddie Murphy has a charisma about him that makes him endearing and entertaining to watch, and Jermaine Flowler (to be fair to him, he hasn't really done much work before this) doesn't hold a candle to Murphy's raw talent. 

It would've been better if there were some high stakes in the film, or at least made them feel like high stakes, but everyone pretty much breezes through the movie intact, and not even the "threat" from General Izzi seems all that plausible, mostly due to Wesley Snipes' overacting and over-performance of the role, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as it seems Snipes realized how ridiculous the entire enterprise was and decided to ham it up, which was actually a relief. When your leader has to be introduced by a chorus of singers and warrior-dancers, you can't take him at all serious, even during the film's only action scene did it seem like there's absolutely no danger from him. Likewise, the relationship between Lavelle and Mirembe was innocent and not-at-all destructive to anyone, and almost felt like an underdeveloped plotline - but then again, so did the entire film.

Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall are barely in the film at all, or at least it felt that way (especially Hall, who had more screen time as one of his hilarious alter-egos than Akeem's right-hand-man Semmi). The film was almost focused solely on Lavelle, and also KiKi Layne's strong performance as Meeka, the fierce princess of Zamunda who can never be queen due to the country's archaic laws (you can pretty much tell how that will turn out for her). Leslie Jones hams it up as only she can, and is also a welcome breath of fresh air to the proceedings, as it seems the older cast exists here only to give the film its title - otherwise it could've been an entirely new creation, and still not as funny.

The real saving grace to the film - and if there's anything positive to remember from it - is in its intricate, heartfelt, powerful costume designs. While watching the film I felt like these outfits came straight out of Wakanda, and then discovered that the costume designer for "Coming 2 America" was Ruth E. Carter, who won an Oscar for her costume designs for "Black Panther." This film didn't deserve her talent, but the product was unmistakable - she didn't phone it in, but produced another wide range of lavish, lovely designs that pay homage to the strong, rich history of the African people. Other than that, the entire film is a forgettable rehash of the highly superior original.

Following the long line of long-gestating comedy sequels, "Coming 2 America" was heightened by its elaborate costume designs but weighed down by everything else, serving as a weak rehash of its stronger predecessor.

The Score: D+