COMING 2 AMERICA | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Craig Brewster (12, 108 mins)
A belated, rather unnecessary sequel to Eddie Murphy’s 1988 comedy hit about a prince from the mythical African kingdom of Zamunda who goes in search of a bride and true love in Queens, USA against the wishes of his father. Here, the fish out of water trope is reversed as Murphy’s Prince Akeem discovers he has a son from that time: streetwise Jermaine Fowler, whom he brings back to Zamunda.
The patriarchal nature of his kingdom means a male heir is preferred over the daughters he has sired with the love of his life Lisa (played again by Shari Headley), despite their obvious capabilities: warrior Meeka (Kiki Layne), studious Omma (Bella Murphy) and cheeky youngest Tinashe (Akiley Love). There’s also the problem of keeping the peace with neighbouring kingdom Nextdoria, ruled over by a gleefully scenery-chewing Wesley Snipes.
An arranged marriage is proposed between the two kingdoms to create a lasting bond. Murphy goes back to America to bring his bastard son home, hopefully uniting two potentially warring kingdoms, when his father (James Earl Jones) dies and Akeem becomes Zamunda’s King. What follows is a lot of nostalgia, as Murphy and co-star Arsenio Hall return to the haunts of the first film, revisting characters they originally multi-roled, under groundbreaking prosthetics at the time, but now with 30-odd years extra mileage. It’s fairly flimsy: the whole plot is predicated on an incident that happened during a montage sequence in the original, where Murphy had a night of drug-induced sex with Leslie Jones’ Mary. It’s very dated in parts, too. A lot of the humour, especially in relation to women, feels clunky and uncomfortable, with gender caveats added as a nod to the present day. There are still beautiful women giving out baths to their Prince, but there are also now men doing it for the women too.
Leslie Jones and Tracy Morgan are welcome additions to the cast as Fowler’s mother and uncle, and there are a host of cameos from Morgan Freeman to En Vogue and Trevor Noah. The film does rob Murphy of a lot of fun, however – he is no longer the innocent, but the man who heavily wears the crown, and despite the occasional moment of jollity this isn’t as amusing as its predecessor. While Murphy previously teamed with director Craig Brewster on the superb Dolemite Is My Name, this does not rekindle the magic. An exercise in nostalgia for fans of the original, but even the outtakes feel a little muted.
Available on Amazon Prime now
words KEIRON SELF