by Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

Eddie & Arsenio – Still Look Far Younger Than Their Barbershop Characters

I was glad to see Amazon Prime allowed us to watch 1988 Coming To America for free. So many studios when releasing sequels put a $3.99 price tag on the original knowing people will be looking for a refresher.  And boy did I need a refresher.  I’ve only seen it twice, once in the theater in 1988 and then whenever it first came out on VHS. I’m sorry to say, I’m not one of those people who know every line, joke and reference by heart.  But that didn’t mean that I wasn’t looking forward to this sequel 33 years in the making, as the need for a nostalgic balm seemed very warranted about now.

While watching Coming To America (directed by John Landis), I realized it’s not actually funny.  At least not to me.  I think we were all taken in by the fact that it starred two actors at the zeitgeist of their fame; it was an unprecedented romantic comedy with a black cast; we were super impressed with Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall being able to play all the other characters in the Barbershop, Sexual Chocolate and The Misogynist Preacher so convincingly; and although we didn’t know it at the time, Zamunda was a precursor to Wakanda and the pride black people feel seeing Africa depicted in a favorable and rich light.

COMING 2 AMERICA (Director Craig Brewer Dolemite Is My Name) isn’t funny either. Not in a laugh out loud, holding your side kinda way. But most of what made the original a classic still remains. Eddie & Arsenio are no longer the hot properties they were back then, but their iconic, nostalgic, Q ratings are still high. And although they would all be dead by now if they had been played by real men their age, seeing the Barbershop oldsters comment on all the socially and politically correct issues of today is entertaining. 

I wondered how they were going to pull off the fact that Prince Akeem (Murphy) had a son he didn’t know about, when in Queens he only had eyes for his Queen Lisa McDowell (Shari Headley).  Considering the explanation involves former SNL cast member, high octane Leslie Jones, I’d say the plot works. I also like the fact that the majority of the movie takes place in Zamunda, where Wesley Snipes who was immensely entertaining in Dolemite Is My Name as the reluctant director, is similarly good at camping up this role as military dictator of Nextdoria, a country that borders Zamunda. Akeem & Lisa’s three daughters Princess Tinashe (Akiley Love); the middle child, Princess Omma, Eddie’s daughter (Bella Murphy); and the oldest Princess Meeka (KiKi Layne) are all badasses in the art of combat fighting, despite the fact that the country is still leaning into old world laws prohibiting woman from owning their own businesses, be heir to a thrown, and other antiquated crap which Akeem has never addressed with his father King Jaffe Joffer (cameo by James Earl Jones).  If I were the 90 year-old JEJ I’m not sure I’d have accepted a role presiding over my own funeral, could be a little to close to life imitating art.

Bottom line: Coming 2 America (script by Barry W. Blaustein, Justin Kanew and Kenya Barris basically delivers the right spirit with a Michael Jackson 90’s video vibe. Good energy and newcomer Jermaine Fowler fits right in.

T&T @LAMB rating: 3.5 outta 5

click images to enlarge

Coming 2 America 1

Coming 2 America 2

Coming 2 America 3

Coming 2 America 4