Prince Akeem returns to New York to claim his son in this about-turn sequel with its heart, and politics, in the right place
Thirty years have passed since the wedding to end all weddings closed Coming to America, John Landis and Eddie Murphy’s 1988 blockbuster comedy about an African prince who travels from the fictional African kingdom of Zamunda to New York to find a bride. A funeral lineup to rival Glastonbury occurs in the first act of this sequel, proving that the people of Zamunda still know something about spectacle.
Co-written by Kenya Barris (Girls Trip) and directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Dolemite Is My Name), this follow-up reverses the first film’s fish-out-of-water plot, with Murphy’s Prince Akeem and sidekick Semmi (Arsenio Hall) returning, briefly, to Queens to retrieve Akeem’s secret “bastard son” Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler). The comedy doesn’t work quite as well this way around, though Fowler is extremely likable as a sweet-natured slacker, channelling the endearing guilelessness of Murphy’s original Prince Akeem.
