Coming to America is a 1988 comedy starring Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall and is often hailed as one of the best comedies ever made. It’s left an indelible mark on pop culture, so many people were skeptical when a sequel was announced. Did the world need a sequel to a classic, thirty-year-old film? No, not really. But since the studio went ahead with Coming 2 America, was it worth the time and money?
The plot of Coming 2 America revolves around Akeem Joffer (Murphy), the crown prince of the African nation of Zamunda. His father, King Jaffe (James Earl Jones), lies on his deathbed, lamenting the fact that Akeem has no male heir, only three daughters, to take the throne in the future. But it’s revealed that Akeem does have a male heir, through an encounter he had while in America thirty years prior. So, he and Semmi (Hall) travel to America to find his son and bring him back to Zamunda to prep him for his ascension.
I’ll certainly say this: Coming 2 America is funny. Much funnier than I expected it to be. Coming to America is a classic, the kind of comedy that only comes together from the right cast, the right writers, and a little bit of luck. Part of that is that it pushed the envelope as far as comedy went. Young Eddie Murphy wasn’t afraid to be crude, as evidenced by his standup performances like Raw. So, Coming to America featured a lot of jokes that pushed the envelope, earning itself an R rating.
Coming 2 America, however, sits comfortably at PG-13, and though the laughs aren’t as raucous as its predecessor’s, it manages to get some laughs. A lot of this is through its own referential humor; many of the first movie’s funniest characters return, like the men from the barbershop: Clarence, Saul, Morris, and Sweets. Their constant bickering and non-stop jabbering are the highlight of the film, but not the only funny bits.
Seeing all of the returning faces was part of the fun, too. In addition to the barbershop quartet, John Amos revives the role of Cleo McDowell, proprietor of McDowell’s, a McDonald’s-knock-off-but-not-really (“They have the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs.”) Shari Headley returns as Lisa, Akeem’s wife, who unfortunately doesn’t have much to do. She manages to help Akeem see the light on a few issues, but otherwise, she’s mostly relegated to the background. There are other familiar faces who return for the sequel, like Paul Bates as Oha, the royal court’s Sergeant at Arms, Vanessa Bell Calloway as Akeem’s original betrothed, and even Louie Anderson as Maurice, the eternal McDowell’s employee.
The new cast is magnificent in their roles. Jermaine Fowler plays Lavelle, Akeem’s son, and he plays the part amazingly. He’s extraordinarily likeable and manages to make the audience feel for him when he realizes he’s out of his element. Lavelle is a pawn in a game he had no role in playing, and though we don’t necessarily want him to win, we don’t want him to lose, either.
The only downside of Fowler is that his inclusion in the movie pushes Arsenio Hall into the background. Hall was a driving force behind the first film, but here it feels like he’s just around because of that reason. Which makes sense in a strange way. With all of the new cast members, including Leslie Jones and Tracy Morgan, not all of the performers are going to be allotted the same amount of screen time. What little Hall does contribute to the film is exemplary, especially the new, outlandish character he portrays.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Wesley Snipes, who joins the cast as the film’s main antagonist, General Izzi of Nextdooria. It’s plain to see how much fun Snipes had in the role, with the aplomb he brings to the character. His enjoyment is somewhat contagious as he makes whatever scene he’s in fun to watch through his plain ridiculousness. Part of me wants a third film that focuses on Izzi and his rise to power just to get more of Snipes in this role.
The film tackles a couple of complex sociological issues and does so with varying degrees of success. When the audience first meets Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler), he is on a job interview for a sales position. His interviewer, a white man who shares the same name as the company he works for, makes a number of assumptions about Lavelle. Lavelle bristles at the ignorance and proceeds to deconstruct his interviewer’s social status and privilege. What the film fails to recognize, however, is that monarchies are inherently privileged. The children of monarchs are handed the world at the whim of some genetic lottery. They become world rulers and sit at the tables of lawmakers despite not necessarily having the intelligence or experience to shape the world properly.
On the other side of things, Coming 2 America is willing to tackle the oppressive patriarchy. Akeem only seeks out Lavelle because he must have a male heir to take over the kingdom. “It is law,” he tells us over and over again, despite the pushback he gets from his wife and daughter. Tradition must be upheld, even if it means placing an unqualified man on the throne over a woman who grew up in the culture and has learned and trained in the ways of diplomacy. But that also overlooks the fact that women have to work that much harder than men in order to achieve the same things, and even then, only with some element of luck in play.
That’s not to say that Coming 2 America is bad. Though it misses a few major points, it’s ultimately a movie about growth. Lavelle sets off to Africa to find out about himself. As the son of a king, he believes that he must be bound for some sort of greatness. But his upbringing in New York makes him strive for things differently than what his paternal family would like. It’s “nature vs. nurture,” and Lavelle has to find the balance between both sides of his heritage.
At the same time, Akeem must learn to accept his son’s eccentricities. Lavelle doesn’t walk like royalty, think like royalty, or act like royalty, but he knows that he is capable of such things if he’d just accept his father’s tutelage. Lavelle is smart; it’s the first thing we learn about him, and he’s also capable of realizing when things are wrong, even if they’re “legal.” This conflict that they experience is the heart of Coming 2 America.
There’s much more that I can mention in my review, such as the surprise cameos from some famous actors and musicians, but I feel like I’ve gone on for quite a bit already. In no way does Coming 2 America reach the heights of its predecessor; if anything, it’s a toned-down, family-friendly soft reboot. But that it doesn’t shy away from complex issues and manages to elicit some laughs from its audience is certainly laudable. If you have a free evening, I’d certainly recommend popping some popcorn and sitting down for a viewing, especially if you’re a fan of the original.
Coming 2 America is available to stream on Amazon Prime starting March 5.
