After it was announced that the 1988 comedy, Coming to America, starring Eddie Murphy, would be getting a sequel thirty three years after the first film came out, it got the spotlight put back on itself after so many years. Being a commercial success when it came out, Coming to America came to fruition from a story idea spawned from Murphy himself and was directed by Blues Brothers’ director, John Landis, who had previously worked together on the film, Trading Places. Apparently these two would have extreme issue with the other during the making of this movie, leading to a severe feud that would made both claim they would never work with the other ever again. While this was eventually put aside when they both worked together on Beverly Hills Cop III, it’s a hard quality to ignore once its become public, and most likely influenced this sense of confliction that would ring true in the film itself. That mixed with a lawsuit being filed by humourist Art Buchwald, who claimed he came up with the movie idea first before it was stolen by Paramount (which they indeed lost and had to pay compensation for), its pretty impressive Coming to America came out as complete as it was. Set in the fictional African country of Zamunda, prince Akeem (played by Eddie Murphy) has just turned twenty-one and is told by his mother and father, Queen Aoelon and King Jaffe (played by Madge Sinclair and James Earl Jones) that he will be given a perfect arranged bridge to marry. Discovering that every woman picked for him has no personality or identity as well as not really enjoying living in an environment where he can’t do anything for himself, he along with his personal aid Semmi (played by Arsenio Hall) travel to America (specifically Queens) in order to find a bride that will offer him a sense of intelligence and independence. Seemingly finding that in Lisa McDowell (played by Shari Headley), Akeem tries in whatever way he can to win her over, even working at a local McDonald’s which is owned by Lisa’s father, Cleo (played by John Amos), and having to contend with her trashy boyfriend, Darryl (played by Eriq La Salle). He will do whatever he can to show this woman that she could be his Queen. Being met with a mixed reception when it came out but slowly over time growing to be more popular, Coming to America feels like a sensible departure from Murphy’s regular work, but also suffers with small elements that result in an overall decent, but still flawed movie.

The most ridiculous thing about the very idea of a filed lawsuit against stealing this idea is that, its not even that original to beginning with. There are definitely certain qualities to this that feel a little unique like an all-African cast and the heavier focus on an African royal linage, but these are nice quality touches on what is essentially a ”by-the-numbers” 90s rom-com. It contains all the expect cliches one would associate with these premise like finding a love interest before a specific time and/or conflict has been fixed, a romance that seems perfect on the surface but is held back by outside forces like a disapproving parental figure or a jerky boyfriend, and an environment where overly quirky individuals and sitcom situations are often treated as any regular day. Much like how other stories with several cliches work, it needs to let what’s new about the premise shine through as to overshadow the less than original elements, and while stuff like leading with black talent and having a prince actively trying to live a normal unspoiled life and desire a partner who is more than just looks is appreciated, it doesn’t really change the fact that the story is pretty paper-thin and pretty unoriginal. Despite comedies not usually needing a lot of story to function, a generic idea unfortunately also leads to generic outcomes and generic scenarios, so that results in a lot of the plot-points being predictable and tiring, and even elements of the humor becoming too easy after a while. Some of this does come from the pretty lackluster directing by Landis, who doesn’t seem to know exactly what to do for a lot of the scenes in this picture. Sometimes jokes go on too long, certain serious moments lack any sense of real drama when they should have some, and the pace feels like its stretching out this pretty basic idea for a bit too long especially when it factors in more cliches and an incredibly rushed ending that doesn’t feel very satisfactory. With that said though, the movie doesn’t really feel harmful in nature as it has this almost childish sense of naivete that slightly makes people basically numb themselves to what they’re seeing; not in a bad way, but still making them ignore the more obviously boring elements. There is a immature albeit likeably innocent quality to this story that comes through some of the humor and especially the characters, and while the screenplay by David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein isn’t great and can factor in comedic qualities that seem a little forced (like any time Murphy has to play a different character that feels ripped out of an SNL sketch), its not offensively bad either.

Comedy really relies on the talent that says the lines, as you can write one of the best jokes in creation with an almost perfect set-up and punchline, but if you get a terrible actor or a terrible comedian to say it, it won’t work at all. All of the actors in this movie feel like some of the stronger elements of the picture as it mostly relies on their comedic potential and chemistry to really sell the movie despite its pretty weak premise. Overall, everybody is putting in effort and is trying their best to make their parts work to the best of their abilities as they saddled with not the best writing and not the best characters. Eddie Murphy was not as well received by critics for this performance as it felt too unlike himself and lacked his usual style. Murphy’s talent usually works with creating clever voices through his zany energy and sassy demeanor, but this laid-back almost sophisticated approach to the character was pretty different, but not bad in any way. He still has his idea of structuring a joke even within his more laid-back performance, and the role he plays is a very likeable distinct character that the audience would want to be with, it seems like he works fine and its a pretty odd thing to critique a comedian for playing against type when they should be trying to expand their range a bit beyond their expected portrayal. Even his chemistry with Shari Headley (who is also pretty good in this) is not that bad even though its filtered into a pretty generic plotline, so despite some of the storyline surrounding his character being pretty weak, he does work pretty well as the lead and the humble charm of the character does shine through quite well thanks to Murphy. With that said, Arsenio Hall as his secondary foil really doesn’t leave that much of an impression, having little personality and not really having much of a purpose outside of just messing stuff up and sticking in the background to inject a secondary quip if its needed. What really doesn’t work is when either of these two play dual roles as most of the characters they also play are really annoying one-note gags that go on for way too long, and are clearly just put in for an excuse to allow the actors to play small bits that remind them of their stand-up roots. Most of the other actors are mostly pretty good, but they don’t have much definability to them, instead just existing as pretty blanket character who only exist to either progress the story or work for a joke. James Earl Jones is a great talent and can be incredibly commanding and gripping, but also pretty funny when given the chance, yet here, his character is pretty bland and outside of a over-the-top voice and accent, there’s not a lot for him to do.

The movie’s style of comedy is very immature and has this almost kindergarten level of presentation that feels like its being a little too juvenile to actually be for adults, but thankfully it isn’t always messy. While some of the scenes with the side characters (especially the Murphy and Hall doubles) don’t work at all, some of the timing on the physical stuff isn’t too bad and once and a while, there’s a funny visual that takes advantage of the immature atmosphere it created for itself, but the writing doesn’t do the movie any favors and the movie isn’t a laugh-out loud experience. Usually when a comedy has generic writing and mostly passable humor, it can be a pretty big hindrance, but thankfully the movie isn’t really that overly extreme in nature and doesn’t try to live and die by its humor, so it doesn’t overwhelm people by being too confrontational. It’s mostly laid back and calm to watch, therefore allowing for more quiet scenes with less bombastic humor that do work fairly well (at least within the realms of the movie). For this type of story, that style works much better and considering how a 90s Eddie Murphy comedy could’ve been delivered, any sense of restraint is very appreciated. The movie also got a lot of love from its costume design and make-up (even enough that they were both nominated for Oscars) and they do work really nicely in this movie. A lot of the costumes for the African society done by Deborah Nadoolman feel nicely authentic to their culture and provide a nice sophisticated and unique opposite to Queen’s street level, and ”rough-around-the-edges” style of clothing. Also, the make-up artist for this movie was Rick Baker (an artist responsible for some of the best make-up in movies like Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes, An American Werewolf in London, Men in Black, etc) so its safe to say that any of his work is going to be impressive (even if its whole purpose is to help make Eddie Murphy a Jewish old man).

Since its returning in a new generation with a movie all about the new generation, talking about Coming to America is a little bit harder than it honestly should be considering its massive simplicity. From a critical standpoint, it’s nothing special and is even home to a few negative attributes, but on a more down-to-earth level or for people who like these kind of rom-coms and even Eddie Murphy comedies, it works perfectly fine. The plot is basic, but not annoyingly so, the characters are generic but not unlikable, and the writing isn’t fantastic and can be home to a few long annoying moments, but it does have at least a few chuckles and at least doesn’t contain a lot of groaners. Nothing phenomenal, but nothing that bad either, check it out for yourself and see what you think of the African King who was popular before Marvel came and made one of their own.

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