First off, let’s be clear. While “woke” is often weaponized by the bad faith right as a pejorative—something that will “cancel” you— the entire concept of inclusivity and expanding compassion and understanding for everyone, but specifically the marginalized, overlooked, and those you may not have afforded empathy towards in the past, is inherently a good thing, period.
But when it comes to comedy—often, but not exclusively the arena of mocking, sneering, derision, shocks, provocation, jests, and more— the entire institution these days either feels like it’s a victim under attack, often ready to cry about cancellation, or unsure of what they want to say and how to say it, lest they offend someone. While one can sympathize with how their industry has been upended, lots of great comedy doesn’t rely on offending people, and as culture evolves, maybe they too should try the same.
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This leads us to Amazon’s “Coming 2 America,” a belated sequel to a raunchy comedy classic, which seems all too overly aware of comedy’s great dilemma right now and struggles to create something both genuinely funny and/or provocative. Instead, it’s very content to honor the original film with dozens of mildly funny, often toothless callbacks at best. It’s both harmless and very uninspired despite all the great comedians involved.
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In case you’ve lived under a rock, the John Landis-directed 1998 original, “Coming To America,” was about a pampered African prince (Eddie Murphy) who rejects the notion of arranged marriage and travels to New York undercover, to try and find a wife who he can respect for her intelligence and strong will, and will love him for who she thinks he is (not a wealthy prince). The original was R-Rated, crass, vulgar, funny (!), and purposefully played with many Black and cultural stereotypes (see the Soul Glo subplot, for example) for better or worse. Still, it was a beloved smash hit, that remains cherished.
Set some 30 years later, “Coming 2 America,” now directed by Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow,” “Dolemite Is My Name”), features Zamundan Prince Akeem Joffer (Murphy), who is set to become King soon. His father, King Jaffe (James Earl Jones), is elderly and fading, and he knows he will soon meet his maker. Prince Akeem is still married to Lisa McDowell (Shari Headley) and has three daughters, Meeka, Omma, and Akiley (KiKi Layne, Bella Murphy, Akiley Love, respectively).
The film’s central dilemma, of course, is there is no son to be the proper heir—Zamundan tradition forbids a woman to sit on the throne—so the Joffer’s have to entertain offers from General Izzi (Wesley Snipes), leader of Nextdoria, an aggressive, warring African nation, to marry his son Idi (Rotimi), a class A nitwit. Worse, Izzi feels like Zamunda owes them because Prince Akeem overlooked Imani Izzi (Vanessa Bell Calloway), his originally intended bride, thirty years ago.
While Prince Akeem nervously considers this offer, good fortune strikes out of nowhere: he discovers he has a son and bastard child, Lavelle Junson (Jermaine Fowler), the product of a high AF one-night stand with Mary Junson (Leslie Jones), whom he has little recollection of. So, he quickly whisks off to Queens, New York again with his trusted confidante Semmi (Arsenio Hall) and brings back the Junsons to Zamunda. His plan, entice his “new” son, Lavelle, to marry General Izzi’s daughter Bopoto Izzi (Teyana Taylor), thus avoiding violence, war, and invasion (and his head) and upholding the general patriarchic status quo. But love and his daughters have other plans (spoiler: the patriarchy gets dressed down).
If the set-up seems elaborate, it really isn’t in the film. Perhaps one of the best elements of “Coming 2 America,” is how it uses “Black Panther” and its celebration of Black excellence as a kind of new north star, and there’s a sense of pride in Zamunda. That said, and critically, the class element of the original film is gone. The reverse fish out of water element—the Queens, New Yorkers enjoying the wealth and advantage of this privileged African nation—is absolutely nowhere near as funny as the original conceit. 1998’s original was often so hilarious because the notion of entitled royalty—accustomed to the most luxurious and ridiculously extreme comforts and privileges—having to experience and suffer through the dirty and scuzzy nature of still-then-dangerous and outrageous 1980s New York. Murphy and Hall having to endure slumming it in “regular” life is inherently comical. The reverse rarely affords little of the same quality laughs. So, “Coming 2 America,” essentially begins at a disadvantage.
Secondly, there’s the politically correct nature of the film or its awareness of not offending. For one, “Coming 2 America” is not Rated-R. And while, generally, way too much focus is placed on the rating of a sequel, especially when it does not match its predecessor, its PG-13 sensibilities do generally feed into the feeling of watching something a little toothless and even emasculated from the original’s mischievous, sometimes racy, and ill-behaved tone.
Much of this is openly addressed. When the film spends some time in the Queens barbershop of the original—ironically, probably the funniest part of this new movie, Murphy and Co. back in garish make-up as several different characters—the characters seems to lament about what they can and cannot say, still making jokes, but scolding a youngin’ when he makes an African poverty joke that crosses the line. Reverend Brown (also Hall in make-up), returns as well for a few gags, but every time he is acknowledged, he is addressed as the sexually-inappropriate preacher. Now that’s not self-censoring, or some revisionists take on the original character. It’s the filmmakers time and time again, trying to play with the idea of politically sensitive culturally woke times. But the jokes never land, fall flat, and seem unnecessary.
So “Coming 2 America” is just not that funny, fumbles when trying to address comedy’s central predicament (better just to ignore and try and work with what you have), and generally feels like it’s playing it safe. But perhaps worst of all, “Coming 2 America,” seems mostly like an excuse to bask in the glow of some kind of victory lap of nostalgia and a pretext to rehash every lovable character and joke from the original.
Practically every single classic moment from the original gets the remember me? cameo, wink, nod, and call back joke. Whether it’s the team from McDowells (John Amos, and Louie Anderson), to the barbershop and its cast of characters, the aforementioned unprofessional and improper Reverend, to Randy Watson and Sexual Chocolate and even Babar the elephant, the movie can’t help, but indulge in an overtly commemorative and self-congratulatory nostalgia celebration of itself (and look, I truly think John Amos is an underappreciated legend too, but holy crap do they lay on the tribute to him thick).
Lastly, Craig Brewer, as a filmmaker, does this movie no favors. No one expects Roger Deakins to shoot this thing, but the film is decidedly flat, blandly paced, and feels like the equivalent of a mall, generic and uninventive in its shape. One struggles to remember the last time a comedy like this was this noticeable poorly shot (any action scene borders on embarrassing). “Coming 2 America,” is well-intentioned and arguably no less self-indulgent and self-serving as the equally tepid, safe, and dull “Bill And Ted 3,” but that doesn’t mean we should have to excuse either of their meager attempts. Ultimately, it’s unclear what path American comedy should take given the cultural constraints it feels like it has to navigate. I don’t know the answers either (and it sucks the Ben Shapiro jackasses of the world will exploit this movie and reviews like this as a cudgel). But this benign, only marginally-amusing-at-best nostalgia cash grab, isn’t it. [C-]
“Coming 2 America” arrives on Amazon Prime Video on March 5.