To prepare for the highly anticipated sequel release I spent my Friday evening watching Coming to America, the original. A friend of mine cooked some amazing Fu Yung Hai which we enjoyed eating while watching the absolute 80s Eddie Murphy experience. He forgot part of the recipe and made a plate that could have easily fed 6 people instead of the four it was meant for, but it was delicious nonetheless.
Owing to the COVID-19 lockdown we couldn't really finish the movie before our 9 P.M. curfew kicked in. But as we've all seen the original countless times before we knew how it ended and so we felt reasonably refreshed and confident going into the sequel.
Flash forward to Saturday evening. The beginning of the film was quite promising. It was good to see most of the original cast reprise their roles over 30 years later. Quickly Eddie finds himself having to journey once again to Queens, NY. However, to much dismay, barely 10 minutes of runtime later he takes the plane home. This is when the movie falls apart.
Slowly the viewer realizes that the rest of the movie is going to play out not just -not- in America, but also not with Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall as the lead players. Instead this movie turns into a vehicle for Jermaine Fowler and Leslie Jones, and it does not work.
It is very much a shame, having to give this film a 4 out of 10. They had only one requirement that this movie should have covered: Eddie as an African King in the US.
How in the lord did they fail to do that?
Owing to the COVID-19 lockdown we couldn't really finish the movie before our 9 P.M. curfew kicked in. But as we've all seen the original countless times before we knew how it ended and so we felt reasonably refreshed and confident going into the sequel.
Flash forward to Saturday evening. The beginning of the film was quite promising. It was good to see most of the original cast reprise their roles over 30 years later. Quickly Eddie finds himself having to journey once again to Queens, NY. However, to much dismay, barely 10 minutes of runtime later he takes the plane home. This is when the movie falls apart.
Slowly the viewer realizes that the rest of the movie is going to play out not just -not- in America, but also not with Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall as the lead players. Instead this movie turns into a vehicle for Jermaine Fowler and Leslie Jones, and it does not work.
It is very much a shame, having to give this film a 4 out of 10. They had only one requirement that this movie should have covered: Eddie as an African King in the US.
How in the lord did they fail to do that?