![]() ![]() Prince Akeem makes his way through Queens, in the company of his wingman-valet Semmi (Arsenio Hall), to put Black life in a loving, satirical light. The joy of the original is that its fish-out-of-water story puts the emphasis less on the fish than on the new atmosphere that he has to cope with. The bulk of the comedy is situational, emerging from Prince Akeem’s comedic ignorance of both American life and the ordinary working world-yet his lofty perspective gives rise to a second layer of comedy that is an even greater showcase for Murphy, who also wrote the story. Rather, its subject is generational-the liberation of a son from the stifling tradition that his parents maintain. In the 1988 version, the political stakes are low the fictional country of Zamunda has no apparent problem with its monarchy (the king, Jaffe Joffer, is played by James Earl Jones his wife, Queen Aoleon, by the late Madge Sinclair). The story, of a pampered royal attempting to live like a commoner, is a venerable theme, rung most familiarly in “The Student Prince.” The premise is democratic by nature-it assumes that isolation and ignorance beset those in power, and suggests that a dose of life among the people (and a romantic attachment to one of them) will not just make the royal heir happier but, more important, make the ruler empathize with the subjects’ needs. The new film (available on Amazon, starting Friday) finds a few of its most inspired moments where it revises the plot to reflect current sensibilities, but its strained efforts at reviving the characters and situations of the original make it feel both hollow and leaden. A case in point is “Coming 2 America,” an update of the comedy, from 1988, that gave Eddie Murphy a showcase for his wide-ranging comedic artistry. ![]() You can check out more from my interviews with the cast right here.What puts comedy to sleep isn’t the respectfulness that wrongly gets derided as political correctness it’s nostalgia, which provides the false good feelings that turn comedy into self-satisfaction. In addition to Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Shari Headley, KiKi Layne, Bella Murphy and Akiley Love, the film co-stars Wesley Snipes, James Earl Jones, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, Jermaine Fowler, and Nomzamo Mbatha. The oldest of the princesses, Meeka has spent her entire life preparing to eventually become the leader of Zamunda, but a witch doctor (Arsenio Hall) informs the would-be king that he has an adult son who lives in the Queens borough of New York.Īfter originally being scheduled to be released at the very end of 2020, Coming 2 America is now all set to be an Amazon Prime original, and subscribers will have the opportunity to watch it on the streaming service this Friday, March 5. They have a close relationship with their father – for example, they do martial arts training together – but things get a bit messy in the dynamic when the discussion of Akeem’s royal heir is raised. Along with KiKi Layne, Bella Murphy and Akiley Love star in Coming 2 America as the three daughters of Eddie Murphy’s Prince Akeem, and Shari Headley’s Princess Lisa.
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