The premise is that Prince Hakeem has a son he just finds out about, but didn't he marry Lisa McDowell at the end of the first movie? What happened to her?
The first one was my favorite comedy movie of all time. Excellent cast, excellent script and very representative of the time in which it was made in terms of comedy and culture. I’ve probably watched it almost as many times as I’ve watched the original Star Wars Trilogy. But I have serious doubts about this film. Some things are just lightning in a bottle... it’s hard to recapture that same magic again. We will see. I kind of feel like this may end up like the Ghostbusters reboot. Some lines will forever be funny. “When you think of garbage, think of Hakeem!” Or the whole bit with the preacher and the band Sexual Chocolate.
Lisa (or at least, the actress who played her in the original, Shari Headley) is in the trailer, 46 seconds into it, sitting on a throne wearing a crown. Could be thatAkeem and Lisa split up, could be that she died and is being presented in flashback. I suspect that she's alive and is a Zamundan princess, and that she will be in the movie in a handful of scenes in the start and finish. But it seems more like there was some sowing of the royal oats that was not captured in the first movie. I think the spec Nova mentions is possible. We know from the first movie that Semi claimed that he was the prince and Akeem was his servant to score with Lisa's sister Patrice. So it's entirely possible that he lied to hook up with other women. But it seems like having Akeem find out he's NOT THE FATHER would undermine the story. Then again, having Akeem messing around isn't easy to square with his love for Lisa/his search for actual romance. I'm very much looking forward to the film. I'd like to think that Eddie is not in a place in his career where he's just going to do a quick cash grab. But maybe that's naive. I am rooting for this to be good not just for its own sake but hoping it inspires a Trading Places sequel while Dan Ackroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis are still with us.
Then again, having Akeem messing around isn't easy to square with his love for Lisa/his search for actual romance. this is the ONE thing, IMO, they most not do.
Although they did imply in the first film that he had sex with his bathers... so it wasn’t like he was a virgin or saving himself. Which led to the hilarious line, “I want a woman who will excite my loins as well as my mind!” Or something to that effect. I may rewatch that movie this weekend actually. So good.
Come to think of it, the original has a montage of him talking to women at a club. It's not too heavy lifting to imagine that Akeem hooked up with one or more of them. (I think this was meant to take place prior to his meeting Lisa, but even if it was roughly simultaneous, I'll guess I'll learn to handwave it.)
I will give it a chance. The original was funny, but not one of my favorite murphy films, but I did always love his comedy.
Yes, the montage of him and Semi at the nightclubs talking to all sorts of crazy chicks was before the church gathering scene where he first sees Lisa. Remember after their clubbing adventure they returned to the barbershop and the barbers recommended going with them to the church event to find nicer girls. I wonder if this movie will make any Black Panther references... would be funny if Wakanda and Zamunda were neighboring kingdoms or something like that. I just hope this turns out better than the Beverly Hills Cop sequels. The second on was ehh and the third one was awful. Apparently he did a good job with the recent Dolemite biopic (which I still need to watch).
I guess the fact it took this long for anyone to make a post about it is an indicator of what people here thought of it It was no "Borat 2" but I had fun with most of it. I wish Lisa hadore to do in it and that the way the son came about was a bit less...um, forced but somehow, the recycled callbacks (of which there were plenty) didn't bother me as much as they normally do. Lotta hot chicks though. I may be gay for real now I give it a 7/10
I watched it Saturday night and really enjoyed it. I did have plenty of alcohol in me but there was certainly quite a few laugh out loud moments. Not sure it will be fun for a new audience, but those of us old enough to have enjoyed the original over the years should get a good chuckle!
I was a little concerned about the negative reviews but then I remembered that the critics never loved any of Eddie's movies. I'm glad I decided to give it a shot. I thought it was completely enjoyable. It's not going to be the classic the first movie was but it's a fun movie. Yes, there were a lot of hotties in this movie. I saw some recent articles where Vanessa Bell Calloway, the woman who played the original arranged bride for Akeem was originally considered for the Lisa McDowell role, but they decided to cast Shari Headley because she had a lighter complexion. Glad to see so many darker complexions in this movie get the spotlight!
I enjoyed it for the most part, but there were two self-owns that are pretty cringey when you think about them that should have been avoided. They could have had much the same movie with Lamar being Lisa and Akeem's child who loved America, basically grew up there, and rejected an arranged marriage just like Akeem did. They could have just had it be the case that Akeem did sow a few royal oats before meeting Lisa, and had an American son he didn't know about. Instead, they went for the notion that Akeem was plied with drink and drugs to the point where he didn't even remember having sex. That takes things dangerously close to date rape territory. I also didn't like the notion that Zamundan women were legally barred from owning businesses. I can buy the notion that the crown only passes through mail heirs but it seems to me that there are few places in the real world that aren't theocracies where women are literally not allowed to own a business, particularly innocuous ones like beauty shops. What does it say about Akeem and Lisa that they stood by and let this be the case? (P.S. there was another thread about this, so maybe the mods should merge them?)
I think that was mostly to get Leslie Jones in the movie. She was hilarious, IMHO. It's worth noting that Akeem was still only a Prince and probably had little to no impact on Zamundan law. His Dad was still King and we know he was a traditionalist. Akeem just now has the power and time to change things.
Yeah, I wasn't fond the the drugged sex angle but they mitigated that with having a 3rd party in Semmi spike his drink. I've honestly seen The Bold and the Beautiful whitewash far worse, but I still could have done without it. The line about sequels though... But I gotta say it's been a long time since I've seen a comedy that didn't reply on pop references to carry jokes (the wake/funeral scene notwithstanding) or that manic banter shit that Gilmore Girls all but normalized, so it has that going for it. And like Alphaman said, I liked they cast actual dark skinned women.
Leslie Jones was indeed hilarious, but they could have had her in the movie still with Akeem having had a clearly consensual encounter with her. Instead, they muddied the issue. And even in the best light, they played with the notion that lookswise, Leslie Jones is not a Vanessa Bell Calloway/Shari Headley/etc etc. and that Akeem had to be bombed to agree to do it with her. Yes, even though Akeem was only a prince, it seems to me that he would have had to be aware of the law that women couldn't own businesses, and been against it. That neither he nor Lisa nor anyone tried subtle ways of getting rid of that law doesn't make much sense. It isn't a good look for Zamunda to have nearly the same idea about business practices as the Ferengi. Especially when it was such a throwaway point. They could just as easily made it so Lavelle and the Zamundan woman went back to America for any number of reasons (she was an American fangirl, they knew they couldn't have a life together in Zamunda, he missed Queens, etc.)
I liked it well enough. My objection was that the first one stood out because it had so much heart, not just laughs. To me this one had virtually no heart until they resolved the sibling rivalry which was kinda late, but after that the balance got much better. On the other hand, as soon as I heard the name of the neighboring country I assumed that they were not really taking this very seriously
The last good Eddie Murphy movie was Bowfinger. While Coming 2 America was a nice nostalgia trip, it didn't break Murphy's streak of awful films. It was just kind of there.
Most of the jokes landed. I liked Leslie Jones and Tracy Morgan's roles. I really liked the actress who played Akeem's eldest daughter. It wasn't hilarious, but not bad. Very 80s/90s plot.
I've watched it a couple of times now and its good fun for those of us old enough to have enjoyed the original. Main complaint..... there isn't enough Arsenio!!!
