Suffering the fate of many a sequel, Coming 2 America is no way near as fun a film as the original. I think the time for the style of humour coming from characters like Prince Akeem and Semmi, and even debatedly Eddie Murphy is past its best before date. What worked in the 80s no longer does in the 2020s.
After over three decades of calm and prosperity, trouble is brewing in the African country of Zamunda. Newly crowned King Akeem (played by Eddie Murphy), who is still happily married to Lisa McDowell (Shari Headley), is feeling the heat exerted by his father, King Jaffe Joffer (played by James Earl Jones) and friend Semmi (played by Arsenio Hall). They are worried about the future of the kingdom as Prince Akeem and Lisa have not produced an heir, only having three daughters, and the despotic leader of rival country Nexdoria, General Izzi (played by Wesley Snipes), has been plotting a marriage that will put him in control of Zamunda. Of course, as you might have suspected, this calls for a trip to New York City to try and find King Akeem’s illegitimate son, Lavelle (played by Jermaine Fowler). They have a mere week to save Zamunda.
This is like a reunion of actors who were popular in the 1980s. A bunch of whom have not had any significant hints since that long-ago decade. Though there have been some updates to the script/dialogue (they do acknowledge that the world has changed since 1988) it is all still rather creeky. Too much reliance on a form of old school movie humour. Too many moments of reference to the original film. I think they waited like two decades too long to make this sequel.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by director Craig Brewer
- Exclusive featurette entitled “From Queens to Zamunda”
