Coming 2 America: Film Review

Cast: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Wesley Snipes, Shari Headley, Leslie Jones, Kiki Lane, Jermaine Fowler, Tracy Morgan

Director: Craig Brewer

33 years after the original Coming To America, Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall are back in the same roles, and in a film that pretty much is a same version as the first, just slightly adjusted and disgracefully rehashed.

Relying heavily on nostalgia - too much at times, it has to be said - Coming 2 America sees the former Prince Akeem (Murphy, stately and serene) very much enjoying married life in Zamunda. But Akeem is troubled by the fact he has only daughters with love Lisa (Headley), meaning the future line of succession is not guaranteed.

Looking to seize on this uncertainty is Wesley Snipes' General Izzi, the warlike leader of neighbouring community Nexdoria.  With Izzi threatening to overthrow the Zamundan way of life, Akeem is thrown a lifeline when he's told of a secret son he has in Queens, New York - so back he and Seemi (Hall) go to try to save the line of succession...

In many ways, Coming 2 America is Coming To America but in reverse, with Akeem's son Lavelle (Fowler, earnest and watchable) taking on the foreigner in a foreign land role.

This is not a gut-busting comedy, nor is it a film that delivers big comedy set pieces (even if a section involving a lion tries to do so). Coming 2 America is more a warm gentle film that somehow manages to be neither fish nor fowl. It adheres to the romcom tropes and settles for more gentle family fare than riotous reunion.

And that's some of the problem of Coming 2 America. Its Beverly Hillbillies go to town story with Lavelle's guardians, played by Jones and Morgan, driving some of the crass culture clash comedy. But even the writers hold back on over-delivering on that front, and any clashes are wildly understated and largely irrelevant to the plot.

Instead what you get is a film that's more interested in moments of heart and tenderness, especially from Murphy's Akeem. There's a genuine feel to him this time around, and there is a warmth that exudes from the screen. It's also matched by a natural performance from Fowler as his son.

 

But that doesn't necessarily make Coming 2 America feel anything like an essential viewing experience, more a chance to hope that after 33 years you're desperate to see these characters again. From the return of the Barbershop group to various other cameos within, there's a growing feeling that the film settled for nostalgia and a rehash of greatest hits, rather than spicing it up with upto date dialogue and gags - certainly the film dates itself early on when it talks about how the phrase en fleek is passe, and also indulges in some meta-talk about how sequels are never anything good, and American films are less than desirable.

Snipes has a ball chewing up the scenery, and delivering some dance moves, but there's never any real bite to his threat to Zamunda. One thing that does stand out though, is the vibrant yet respectful costuming of the African nation - it's eye-popping and dazzling, but in an understated way; and is all the more impressive for it.

The overall feeling of Coming 2 America is underwhelming, a desperate nagging sensation that this is a sequel that had no need to live, other than to tick off rampant fan - and probably cast - demand to make it happen. 

Not once is there a sense of urgency within, or a feeling of timeliness (aside from one thread about women unable to gain access to the seat of power in foreign nations) that pervades the long-delayed script. It plays it too safe, and delivers something that's tame and deferential to its original, but in some ways, too much so.

You may feel a sense of safe nostalgia in Coming 2 America, but that's somehow not enough to leave you feeling that 33 years wasn't long enough to have missed Akeem and Seemi - all the evidence certainly shows that another 33 years may have brought to life a stronger script and a more vital reason to revisit Zamunda.

Coming 2 America is streaming on Amazon Prime from Friday March 5