Coming 2 America (2020)

[Amethyst]

1 hour ago, moonorchid said:

So from there I thought Lavelle and Meeka were gonna bond and hint towards being a thing and that’s how he would come to be the heir but it never happened.

 

44 minutes ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

I also kept waiting for anyone to mention a DNA test or something.

Yep to both of these.  Definitely thought sparks were going to fly between Lavelle and Meeka during the lion trial, which would have made things awkward for the obvious reasons.

And in this day and age, no way would this charade have gone by so long without someone suggesting a DNA test, and not just go by the word of an old man with a sketch.  Surprised that Semmi didn't suggest this to Akeem, but Semmi had less to do this time around.  Missed opportunity for an ancestry.com joke.

[raven]

First the bad:

Akeem being date raped - not funny.  As others have said, why not have Lavelle be Semmi's son or why couldn't Akeem just have a one nighter.  I was also waiting for someone to suggest a DNA test. 

I wish they had dealt a bit more with how Akeem became immersed in his father's way of thinking.  Akeem in the first movie was intent on doing things his own way; I can definitely see how being complacent for 30 years could wear that down so I think this could have been a funny theme to explore, esp with Akeem having an American wife and three daughters.

I wanted to know more about the daughters and wish we had spent more time with them.   I also thought there were a few sparks between Lavelle and Meeka and thought they might be going for "not biological" there as well, especially since Akeem showed zero interest in building any kind of relationship with Lavelle that wasn't in the context of being a Prince.   I know Lavelle said his uncle was his family but it was a bit strange to me that Akeem showed very little interest in Lavelle as a person.

The good:

The costuming was fantastic though we already knew that from the trailers! 

Eddie Murphy is still charismatic and funny and works well with everyone.  He and Arsenio Hall are a great team.   Though I wish we had seen more of her, Akeem and Lisa are a believable and likable couple.      Even with all of that, Wesley Snipes stole nearly every scene he was in.  He was the funniest thing IMO in a movie that though not terrible was not as funny as it should have been.

I liked Kiki Layne's Meeka and wish we had seen more of her as well.   Jermaine Fowler as Lavelle was cute and kind of charming, low key funny but suffers in comparison to Eddie Murphy in the first movie.  To be fair, Fowler is not trying to play anything like that character and I appreciate they did his own fish out of water story.   However, by trying to essentially run the same plot, comparisons are inevitable - and there are already so many - that the weaknesses in this movie are even more apparent.  That's not the fault of Fowler, though.

Did everyone watch through the credits?  There are cute bloopers and a scene after the credits with Saul.

It sounds like I didn't really like this but it's more like it was a not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.  It was a bit longer than it needed to be but that was OK as you play "spot the character and/or actor".  

Also, I was wrong about the bathers!

 

 

[snickers]

I was not expecting this to be as good as the sheer greatness of the first one, but story wise, I thought it was a decent sequel.  I guess what I didn't get, was why they had them pretty much play characters of characters.....and so much of it was fan service (not that doing that is a bad thing).

But this was good fun, during these hard times it is good to watch a fun movie.  I personally thought the scenes at the barber shop were the best and the Wesley Snipes scenes were good, though a little over the top.  And I agree not enough Akeem/Semmi! But Semmi's scenes with Tracy Morgan's character were pretty good.  As for the daughters, um, where was the middle child? Like, she was non-existent....could the actress not commit on set? Could they not fit her into the storyline? The youngest one was really cute though, and I liked Meeka, but I had no opinion on the second one cause they never showed her!

At least we got Sexual Chocolate at the end 😆

Edited March 7, 2021 by snickers

[GHScorpiosRule]

5 hours ago, raven said:

Did everyone watch through the credits?  There are cute bloopers and a scene after the credits with Saul.

Did you see my post about how I thought that was the best part of the movie?😄

 

43 minutes ago, snickers said:

At least we got Sexual Chocolate at the end

I know! 

I forgot to mention that it was a great surprise to see Morgan Freeman!

[Guest]

I mostly enjoyed the movie but it was a letdown. I expected it to be funnier and more creative. 

Some of the choices just felt bizarre. Things like having Akeem have no memory of sex with Mary and expanding the role of the royal bathers was strange and the jokes weren’t even funny. Particularly when they deliberately tried to be more progressive and acknowledged MeToo in other parts.

I really hated what they did with Imani. Having her hopping and barking 30 years later was just depressing. That was made worse by Bopoto being just like Imani was in the first movie.

The most disappointing part is that the characters were not given enough time do and the relationships that made the first work were largely ignored. 

I think this originally being a theatrical release played into my disappointment. It felt more like a direct to streaming reunion move than a big screen sequel. If I had been expected the later it would have hit the mark pretty well.

1 hour ago, snickers said:

As for the daughters, um, where was the middle child? Like, she was non-existent....could the actress not commit on set? Could they not fit her into the storyline? The youngest one was really cute though, and I liked Meeka, but I had no opinion on the second one cause they never showed her!

 

The middle daughter was Eddie’s real life daughter and this was her first role. 

[Spartan Girl]

Did anyone catch the Trading Places Easter egg with Colin Jost playing “Mr.Duke”? If the Dukes really did land back on top...oh god, I hope Winthorpe, Valentine, Ophelia and Coleman are okay!

Agree that we didn’t need the whole date rape thing and that Semmi should have turned out to be the father.

It was disappointed that Akeem lost some of his cheerful good nature/naïveté that made him such a great character in the first movie. I know we all grow up but he didn’t have to grow up to be like his dad. Yes, he did love and value his daughters and he saw the light at the end, but still.

The end with SEXUAL CHOCOLATE! was indeed the best part, as were the costumes.

[snickers]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

The middle daughter was Eddie’s real life daughter and this was her first role. 

Gotcha.....still though....one would think she'd have more of a role 😆 I mean, she wasn't bad.....she just hardly had a part

 

I wanted to see all 3 kids, not just 2...I kind of felt at times the youngest daughter had more lines than his heir

[snarktini]

On 2/3/2021 at 12:10 PM, Trini said:

Oh, and I guess I got my Wakanda reference, but it was just to say that it doesn't exist in this universe! Oh well.

On 3/6/2021 at 12:34 AM, TiffanyNichelle said:

I also noticed some scenes from the trailer weren't in the movie.

Did they cut the Wakanda line? Because I saw it in the preview and didn't hear it when I watched the movie last night.

18 hours ago, moonorchid said:

I was surprised and disappointed that Akeem had an American wife, three daughters, and hadn’t decreed more rights for the woman of Zamunda and was binding himself to an archaic law that he barely followed in his own youth, which to be fair he realizes in the end.

This movie veered into parody territory multiple times throughout but in the last 15 mins it really pulled it together and ended on a high note. The nostalgia is what saved it. 

 

Yup. He's had the "only girl children" problem for literally decades and he's just now realizing he doesn't have a successor? Women can't own businesses? There was a lot of growth missing there. I realize it's just a comedy film and I can't ask a lot of plot or logic. The sexism / patriarchy was obviously dialed up to 11 for comedic effect.

I'm surprised to hear this was going to be a theatrical release. It's fine for a nostalgic streaming flick (like Bill and Ted was) but not really not good enough for theaters.

16 hours ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

Ok I thought we were going to go that way during the scene where they talk about the lion. I also kept waiting for anyone to mention a DNA test or something.

100% agree!

In the end, one more thing stood out to me: Akeem overturned whatever law said a daughter couldn't ascend, but he would have also had to remove the "firstborn" rule. Usually it's the firstborn child that inherits the throne and we even heard Akeem acknowledge that. But, obviously, he's king and can do whatever he wants! Are there countries in which the ruling monarch is allowed to pick which kid is most worthy?

[benteen]

I was disappointed with Coming 2 America.  There are certainly funny moments, like the return to the Barbershop.  Wesley Snipesq General Izzi is a very fun addition to this world.  But I felt ultimately that this proved why this sequel didn't have to be made.  After a so-so opening half, this film really falls apart in the back half.

I think one of the big problems is the failure to really develop the character's relationships.  There is surprisingly not enough Akeem and Semmi together.  Those two need to be joined at the hip.  There is not enough Akeem and Lisa.  There is not enough Akeem and his daughters.  Too much time is spent with Akeem and his "long lost son" but the development between these too is poor and just not that strong.  Even the relationship with Akeem and his father disappoints as Jaffe seems to have no respect for him whatsoever. 

Again, there are some funny moments and it's fun to revisit certain characters but the movie isn't fun enough or good enough to justify a sequel to a movie that stuck its landing decades ago. 

Edited March 7, 2021 by benteen

[Raja]

2 hours ago, snarktini said:

 

In the end, one more thing stood out to me: Akeem overturned whatever law said a daughter couldn't ascend, but he would have also had to remove the "firstborn" rule. Usually it's the firstborn child that inherits the throne and we even heard Akeem acknowledge that. But, obviously, he's king and can do whatever he wants! Are there countries in which the ruling monarch is allowed to pick which kid is most worthy?

Japan with their allowing the adopting someone in, concubine's sons and girls, as they generally succeeded young and retired emperors at a young age might come close. But the emperor was for most of time the figure head and a Shogun or warlord really did the choosing.

[Atlanta]

I loved loved the first "Coming To America" and was eager to see this. I'll say it's cute, but not much else. Where they banking on the nostalgia factor? The daughters and Lisa, IMO, were the more compelling characters. And, holy cow, Shari is still stunning! I can't stand Leslie Jones and couldn't stand her here. Also hate the roofie/date rape aspect. As someone else has said, him having a one nighter pre-Lisa would have been more palatable.

Rick Ross's house stood in for the palace: https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/rick-ross-house-3/view/bing/

[Empress1]

21 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I forgot to mention that it was a great surprise to see Morgan Freeman!

Morgan Freeman and all the musicians at the funeral were a fun surprise.

[GHScorpiosRule]

25 minutes ago, Empress1 said:

Morgan Freeman and all the musicians at the funeral were a fun surprise.

Yes! En Vogue, Salt-N- Peppa!

"What a King, What a King, What a Mighty Good King..."

[MaggieG]

I enjoyed it for the most part. I like the nostalgia and I liked that they brought back many of the characters from the first one. 

Things I liked: 

• Wesley Snipes dancing into the castle every time he showed up
• Mcdowell's thriving in Zamunda
• The daughters and Semmi defending the castle against Izzi and his goons

Leslie Jones was a little too much as usual. Loved drunk Lisa. Shari looks like she's barely aged and she looked beautiful in the costumes. So did all of the ladies.

I loved all the other characters that Eddie and Arsenio portrayed coming back, especially the barbers. Those guys were old 30 years ago, they are probably in their 100s right now.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by MaggieG

[Empress1]

3 hours ago, MaggieG said:

Shari looks like she's barely aged and she looked beautiful in the costumes. So did all of the ladies.

She did look like she'd barely aged! She's clearly living right. Ruth Carter is a genius and deserves all her flowers.

3 hours ago, MaggieG said:

Leslie Jones was a little too much as usual.

I like Leslie Jones a lot, but she does tend to do too much. I've seen her live and she's really funny, but sometimes I was like "Girl, please stop shouting."

[Racj82]

To me, Akeem took so long to make changes just because they wanted to do a whole girl power thing and if he had already changed the rules, they wouldn't be able to have that storyline the way it was. 

The date tape thing exists because there is no other way it would have happened. Akeem would not have slept with a random woman on his own.

They had plots they wanted to do and had characters make stupid decisions in order to get them there.

Would have been much better if it ended up being Semi child. It would have given Arsenio more to do and growth for his character.

They tried to do a new generation thing here with characters that weren't as funny or interesting as our former characters. So, it ends up feeling like a lukewarm retread. 

Overall, I had fun with the movie. I wasn't asking for a lot and had some fun.

I can't help but feel like needed to be a series and not a sequel. 

Everyone gets more time, the world of the film could be fleshed out more and things don't have to feel so rushed.

We don't see Murphy and Hall as much because of all the other characters they had to get in. 

Lastly, where the fuck was Patrice? She's like the only person Lisa really has ties to other than her dad and she's not there. 

[paulvdb]

I've seen some people wondering why Akeem never changed anything to make Zamunda a better place for women. Maybe he tried but his father was still king until he died at the beginning of this movie. So Jaffe probably vetoed any changes Akeem wanted to make when he first came back from America. Of course that does not excuse Akeem from still not making changes after he became king himself. I guess Akeem gradually became more conservative as he got older and that's why he was hesitant to change things.

[Avabelle]

I enjoyed it but I felt like Eddie Murphy was phoning it in. He didn’t seem engaged at all and he was absent of the charm of Akeem in the original one.

It was a lot better then I thought though.

[xls]

On 3/7/2021 at 8:17 AM, raven said:

First the bad:

Akeem being date raped - not funny.  As others have said, why not have Lavelle be Semmi's son or why couldn't Akeem just have a one nighter.  I was also waiting for someone to suggest a DNA test. 

 

 

 

 

thank you ! this really bothered me along with the overt chauvinism. gee I really looked forward to this movie and it starts out funny then I was disappointed 🙄

[TigerLily20]

I was hoping for at least one Soul Glow call back or even a cameo by Eriq La Salle, it was cute, not something I would have paid for in the theaters but I enjoyed seeing everyone again

[Racj82]

On 3/14/2021 at 9:14 PM, TigerLily20 said:

I was hoping for at least one Soul Glow call back or even a cameo by Eriq La Salle, it was cute, not something I would have paid for in the theaters but I enjoyed seeing everyone again

Eric turned down a cameo he proposed. There was also a scene written for Sam Jackson but he had prior commitments.

[Cherpumple]

On 3/6/2021 at 9:45 PM, Amethyst said:

I think it would have been better if Lavelle was Semmi's son, not Akeem's.  I never once bought the bond between Akeem and Lavelle and I could have believed that Semmi had slept with Mary all those years ago and just lied to Akeem about it.  

I agree, and I was convinced throughout the movie that this would be the case. First, I was very suspicious of the description of the night Akeem and Mary met, due to both his lack of recollection and the sleazy aspect of him being too high/drunk to consent, which I was honestly surprised to see in a lighthearted comedy made in 2020. Then there was the moment Akeem told Mary that he knew Lavelle was his son. She immediately starts contradicting him, then stops herself, looks at him in all his expensive finery and starts agreeing with him. It's a very obvious about-face on her part. And lastly, every time Uncle Reem starts going off about he knows the real meaning of family, Mary interrupts him to shut him up, as if she's hiding something. And on top of all this, the whole storyline was kicked off by the vision of a holy man, rather than anything concrete. Until one of the filmmakers says otherwise, I'll remain convinced that the original plan was to have Lavelle not be Akeem's real son.

Other than that, I thought this was fun. I loved all the fan service and callbacks (there was still a Soul Glow poster up at the barbershop!), and thought the costumes were fantastic. I love Leslie Jones and Tracy Morgan and was happy to see them enjoying Zamunda. The love story with Lavelle was dull, but it didn't take up too much time. I'm still laughing at Sexual Chocolate. That name will never not be hilarious.

[Black Knight]

On 3/9/2021 at 12:34 AM, Racj82 said:

Lastly, where the fuck was Patrice? She's like the only person Lisa really has ties to other than her dad and she's not there. 

I looked up Allison Dean and she certainly doesn't seem like she would have been too busy to do the film, though it's always possible they asked and she said no for other reasons. But I suspect the real reason is that, given the storyline of Akeem's getting another woman pregnant, they did not want to address the handjob Patrice gave Akeem on the double date. They were already trying to pretend that Akeem didn't have sex with the royal bathers, and at least that they could kinda get away with because it was never shown onscreen and Akeem never actually said yes to his father's comment about it. But the handjob was shown onscreen, all the way to Akeem's orgasm. At least they included a picture of Patrice and Lisa together in the film's opening.

Zamunda's laws not having changed in 30 years made sense to me because we've never been shown that the crown prince has any real power - the king decides all, as is typical for monarchies. Akeem's father's sexism and rigidity were well-established in the first film, and the queen had passed away (RIP Madge Sinclair) and never managed to be that much of a moderating influence anyway given his sexism. And to be fair to Akeem, he's king for about a week in this film and is kinda busy trying to forestall an assassination/war during that time, so I didn't really think that poorly of him for not immediately overturning the laws about women not being able to own businesses and such. I figured he would have gotten around to it once the national security crisis was resolved.

They made such a huge timeline error that I thought at first that it was a clue that Lavelle wasn't Akeem's son (or Semmi's, as the timeline error applies to him too). The film opens on Akeem and Lisa's anniversary, and then we learn that Lavelle's birthday is within a day or so of that. But the first film was clear that Akeem's wedding took place 40 days after his departure for America. Mary would only have been about a month along in her pregnancy.