Saturday, March 12, 2022

Coming 2 America (2021)

Nominated for Best Hair and Makeup    Here's the biggest surprise of the Oscar nominations, but you know what?  It deserved it.

Crown Prince to the throne of Zamunda, Akeem (Eddie Murphy) has everything he could have wanted:  the love of his life, Lisa (Shari Headley), as his wife and three beautiful daughters (Kiki Layne, Bella Murphy, and Akiley Love).  He also has a belligerent neighbor, General Izzi (Wesley Snipes), who has not forgiven Akeem for throwing over his sister, Princess Imani (Vanessa Bell Calloway), for an American commoner.  What Akeem does not have, however, is a male heir, which Zamundan law is very clear about regarding the rules of succession.  Then, his faithful servant Semmi (Arsenio Hall) mentions that Akeem might very well have a son in America, the result of a drug-induced one night stand with Mary (Leslie Jones).  Akeem flies back to Queens, New York, and tracks down Lavelle Johnson (Jermaine Fowler), whom he believes to be his son.  Lavelle agrees to fly to Zamunda and undergo the tests of the prince to ensure his worthiness to the throne.

Did this sequel need to exist?  Probably not.  Is it worth watching?  Yeah.  You don't even need to have seen the original (though you really should because it is a stone cold classic) because they intersperse scenes as flashbacks in the sequel.  Which I generally frown upon as a terrible idea.  Don't show clips from better movies in your film.  It just invites comparisons and you will not win.

Murphy and Hall reprise many of their secondary characters in the film, as well as adding new ones.  The makeup is incredible and frankly, the original should have won back in 1989, if only for Murphy's makeup as Saul, the barber shop patron.  (It lost to Beetlejuice.)  But it's never too late to fix a mistake.

Coming 2 America is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

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