COMING 2 AMERICA – Review

Now that all that nasty February snow has finally melted away, many minds are filled with thoughts of travel, perhaps to an exotic destination. Or could you be yearning to revisit an old familiar spot, somewhere filled with laughter and dear friends from long ago? Sure with the vaccines rolling out, things are looking a lot brighter than last March (the last theatre advance screening was exactly a year to the weekend), but you may want to hold off before hitting those “getaway” websites. Why not combine those desires into a virtual reunion, mostly set in an exotic land that’s been in your movie dreams for nearly 33 years? That’s the major selling point for this weekend’s highly anticipated sequel. After his more-or-less traditional “final fade-out” happy ending in 1988, Prince Akeem boards the royal jet for Queens, NY for COMING 2 AMERICA.

For the most part, Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) is still living a happy life in the African kingdom of Zamunda with his US-born wife, Princess Lisa (Shari Headley). But the duo is now a quintet with their three daughters: eldest (and next in line to the throne) Meeka (KiKi Layne), teenage Omma (Bella Murphy), and pre-teen Tinashe (Akiley Love). Even father-in-law Cleo (John Amos) runs a McDowell’s burger place there. Still, the health of King Jaffe (James Earl Jones) is a big concern, as are the ramblings from nearby Nextdoria’s new leader, the crafty General Izzy (Wesley Snipes). He wants to form an alliance by marriage, with his loopy son marrying Meeka (who isn’t keen on the plan). But the court shaman Baba insists that Izzy will swoop in and take over since Akeem has no male heir. But the good, perhaps shocking, news is Baba’s vision of a son in America. Akeem is confused until his aide Semmi (Arsenio Hall) explains. On that fateful visit to Queens, before he met Lisa, two ladies led them back to their “crib”. As Semmi was “entertained” in another room, Akeem’s lungs were filled with smoke from the other lady’s powerful “herb”. As he drifted off, she made her move, and… he’s got a grown son in the states. Akeem (now the King) and Semmi board the royal golden jet and track down the new prince as he works as a ticket “scalper” for his uncle, outside a sports arena. Lavelle Junson (Jermaine Fowler) takes the duo back to the run-down apartment he shares with his never-married mother Mary (Leslie Jones). After some quick explanations, the Junsons return with them to the palace, with Uncle Reem (Tracy Morgan) joining them later. Now Izzy hatches a new plan and offers his sultry sister Bopoto (Teyana Taylor) as a country-uniting bride for Lavelle. Whoa, hold on, he is required to pass some big tests in order to gain his crown. And what happens when he falls for his palace hairstylist, the sweet Mirembe (Nomzamo Mbatha)? Could these nest family members bring about the invasion of peaceful Zamuda by Nextdoria, landing Izzy on the golden throne?

Murphy eases back into his role of Akeem as though it was a pair of comfy old slippers. The accent and the infectious grin are unchanged, though now we feel the “weight of the crown” as he takes on more responsibility, while still having time for lots of tender encouragement for his daughters. Though Akeem is often the “straight man” this time, Murphy does get to ‘cut loose” with his barbershop duo (what, is Saul well past a century now) and the Queens soul-singing superstar. Ditto for Hall who is still the over-efficient, micro-managing Semmi, but seems to have more fun as his barber, Baba, and the sleazy hometown pastor. As far the main “new faces”, Layne is the ultimate princess who needs no rescuing (the same is true for her sisters). Fowler is an affable, eager young hero, whose swagger makes up for the challenge of doing most of the “heavy lifting ” of the often unwieldy plot. As for his relatives, Jones as mother Mary needs to tighten up the volume dial on much of her dialogue. The attempt to emphasize the crude nature of the “foreigner” often feels abrasive. That’s also the case for Morgan, who shows up mainly to pick fights with Semmi and say anything that pops into his head (instead of that other dial, his “filter” switch is busted, especially after his many Wakanda gaffes). Snipes’ prancing and preening posturing as Izzy morph his threatening taunts into buffoonish bellowing. It’s great to have Headley back, but she mainly is placed in the background, there for an insert shot of irritation or annoyance. Speaking of shots, her bonding with Mary over cocktails comes off as a klutzy contrivance. It’s also terrific to see Amos as her pop, who continues his “David vs. Goliath” tussles with the big McD’s. And ditto for Jones, though his King is more of a grouch (shaking his fist at Semmi) than the first film’s stern, kindly patriarch. Oh, and Mbutha is a sweet, love interest deserving of a better side story.

Replacing John Landis in the director’s chair is Craig Brewer who guided Murphy two years ago in his award-winning lead performance in DOLEMITE IS MY NAME. Unfortunately, this film has little of the former’s down and dirty edge (the 88 original was rated “R” while this sequel goes out of its way to earn a “PG-13”). And though this flick has a couple more writers, it has a much lower joke to laugh ratio this time. Perhaps Landis might have added a bit of editing energy, but he would have been thwarted by the material. It seems to be going down a checklist in order to introduce more characters while making sure that nobody from the first one is slighted. Yet, somehow it still feels slight with too many big production numbers (lots of choreography at these state functions), trying to make up for dialogue exchanges that never land a “punch”. With so many now in dire financial straights, the opulence and extravaganze of Zamunda feels “off-key”. And America seems short-changed (after all, we’re in the title) with a ten-minute segment in the first act and a quick five minutes prior to the big finale. At least we get the still hysterical barbershop bits (could they support a spin-off). Oh, and I did chuckle at the cameo by SNL’s Colin Jost who has a connection to some classic comedy villainy. The meager merriment isn’t aided by the non-stop whimsey in its overbearing music score (sometimes comedy works best in silence, really). But all these critiques won’t matter to the original’s legion of adoring fans who have been in a state of rapturous ecstasy since the announcement of this production. They’ll be happy, though they certainly (and we) deserve a more polished entertainment than the hit-and-miss antics of COMING 2 AMERICA. Wakanda forever, Zemunda…well…

1.5 out of 4

COMING 2 AMERICA streams exclusively on Amazon Prime beginning Friday, March 5, 2021