Film Review: "Coming 2 America" (2021).

"A sequel is in the heir." It is Coming 2 America. This comedy film directed by Craig Brewer and written by Kenya Barris, Barry W. Blaustein, and David Sheffield. It is a sequel to the 1988 comedy classic Coming to America. Akeem and Semmi are back! Set in the lush and royal country of Zamunda, newly-crowned King Akeem and his trusted confidante Semmi 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.

According to Murphy, the sequel came about after attempts to turn the first film into a play fell through, followed by a pitch meeting he had with Ryan Coogler. Murphy said that although he didn't like Coogler's idea for a sequel, it got him thinking about developing his own storyline for a sequel. In January 2017, a sequel to the 1988 comedy classic was announced with Barris, Blaustein, and Sheffield penning the sequel. However, a possible participation of lead actors Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall was left undefined. In early January 2019, it was announced that the sequel will be moving forward with Murphy, Hall, Shari Headley, John Amos, Paul Bates, and James Earl Jones reprising their roles, and with Brewer hired to direct. However, Madge Sinclair, who played Akeem's mother Queen Aoleon, would not return to reprise her role as she died in December 1995; her character was not recast, but is featured in archive footage. By mid August, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, KiKi Layne, Wesley Snipes, Trevor Noah and Jermaine Fowler rounded out the film's cast as newcomers. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early November. Filming took place in Atlanta, Georgia and New York City, New York. Earl Jones was eighty-eight years old when he filmed his scenes. Although in reasonably good health for a man of his age, and happy to appear in this movie, James did not want to travel far to do so. It is believed his few scenes were shot in one day on a rented TV soundstage nearer his home on the New York state/Connecticut border, without Murphy or any of the other Atlanta-based cast members present. The film was originally scheduled for an August 7, 2020 theatrical release date, but was pushed back to December 18, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In late November 2020, Amazon Studios acquired the distribution rights to the film for $125 million and released the film on March 4, 2021.

The film stars Murphy, Hall, Headley, Earl Jones, Amos and Bates, reprising their roles, with Jones, Morgan, Layne, Snipes, Noah and Fowler. The returning cast, including Murphy, are still undeniably amazing. But Murphy seems to have become a cash cow, delivering many repetitive roles in retreads of formerly popular films from Christmas past.

This lowbrow sequel is such a putrid blast of bad taste that, at times, it's hard to even pay attention to what's happening on the screen. It's silly, but it means well, which is definitely more than can be said about a lot of movies coming out these days.

Simon says Coming 2 America receives:

Also, see my review for Dolemite Is My Name.