I think we were all surprised to hear that Eddie Murphy’s classic ‘80s comedy Coming to America was getting a sequel thirty years later, but Prince Akeem and his loyal assistant Semmi (a returning Arsenio Hall) are back in Coming 2 America.
It reunites Eddie Murphy not only with his Dolemite is My Name director Craig Brewer, but also original Coming to America screenwriters Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield. Kenya Barris (Black-ish) and Justin Kanew (National Lampoon’s Adam & Eve) also worked on the screenplay and story with the pair respectively.
The movie sees the newly-crowned King of Zamunda returning to Queens, New York to find the son he’s only recently learned he’d fathered and bring him to Zamunda in order for him to take his rightful place as the new prince and heir to the throne. A move which causes a fair bit of consternation in the royal household.
It also features an extensive list of returning and new stars including Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, Kiki Layne, Shari Headley, Wesley Snipes, James Earl Jones, John Amos, Teyana Taylor, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Paul Bates, Nomzamo Mbatha, and Bella Murphy.
The official plot synopsis is as follows:
Akeem and Semmi are back! Set in the lush and royal country of Zamunda, newly-crowned King Akeem (Eddie Murphy) and his trusted confidante Semmi (Arsenio Hall) embark on an all-new hilarious adventure that has them traversing the globe from their great African nation to the borough of Queens, New York – where it all began.
Let’s take a look:
I think this could be a marmite movie because if you like it you’ll really like it, but if you don’t… well, nostalgia only gets you so far. I’m a bit on the fence about it myself, there’s moments in the trailer that I enjoyed, but overall it seems like there’s just way too much going on here, and I hope the movie isn’t as frenetic as the trailer makes it seem.
What do you think?
Coming 2 America will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on 5 March.
Last Updated: February 4, 2021
