Sensing that trouble is brewing in the African kingdom of Zamunda, three long and prosperous decades after Prince Akeem and Lisa McDowell's opulent wedding in Coming to America (1988), King Jaffe Joffer and Semmi drop a bombshell. As a result, with three lovely daughters and no sons, it seems that Prince Akeem is with his back to the wall, as General Izzi, the megalomaniac despot of the neighbouring country of Nexdoria, dreams of seizing power through a political marriage of ... (Full plot summary below)
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Sensing that trouble is brewing in the African kingdom of Zamunda, three long and prosperous decades after Prince Akeem and Lisa McDowell's opulent wedding in Coming to America (1988), King Jaffe Joffer and Semmi drop a bombshell. As a result, with three lovely daughters and no sons, it seems that Prince Akeem is with his back to the wall, as General Izzi, the megalomaniac despot of the neighbouring country of Nexdoria, dreams of seizing power through a political marriage of convenience. Now, newly crowned King Akeem and his trusted confidante, Semmi, have to return where it all began, the bustling borough of Queens, New York, to retrieve Lavelle: the illegitimate son unsuspecting Akeem never knew existed. Can the prince of Zamunda restore peace and stability in less than a week?
Leave your thoughts about Coming 2 America.
| Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAfter all these years, the land of Zamunda is still the world capital of comedy. |
| UproxxVince ManciniOverall, there’s very little to complain about in Coming 2 America, a worthy sequel that does justice to the original without trying to recreate everything about it. It’s a winning, maximalist musical extravaganza. |
| Consequence of SoundBlake GobleFor a 33 years-late follow up to a fan favorite? This isn’t terrible, not even close. Will it split the royal underlings that vaunt Landis’s ’88 effort? Maybe. For now, Coming 2 America deserves to be enjoyed as one of Murphy’s better follow-ups. |
| Paste MagazineAdesola ThomasComing 2 America achieves exactly what an effective sequel should: It reinforces themes from the original film while offering new, intriguing points of tension, nodding to old gags in a way that rewards fluent fans without alienating newbies. |
| The Observer (UK)Simran HansThe 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. Still, there are enough in-jokes and returning characters to keep fans happy. |
| Boston GlobeTy BurrIt’s silly of mind and open of heart, full of visual and sonic eye candy while telling a predictable story with pleasurable generosity. The laughs are pitched right over the plate with the skill and enjoyment of a team of vaudeville pros. As reunions go, it’s a success. |
| Washington PostAnn HornadayIt’s not great cinema. It’s good at what it sets out to do. Which makes it great fun. |
| San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleBy the end, “Coming 2 America” has us. It’s strange, these movies that create a warm feeling. It’s hard to say why or how. But when Murphy sits on the throne watching a bad lounge singer (also played by Murphy) perform “We Are Family,” it feels like the summation of the three decades of virtuosic silliness that Murphy has brought to the screen, and of all that has meant to us. |
| Entertainment WeeklyKristen BaldwinComing 2 America is cute and fun, a lovingly made exercise in nostalgia that delivers several genuine laughs, even if it never achieves the comedic excellence of its predecessor. |
| IndieWireEric KohnThose who adore the original, however, will feel like they’ve been revisited by an old friend, or perhaps the dirty uncle, whose jokes are a bit frayed but still pointed enough. Produced at a time when big, brash studio comedies rarely crack the zeitgeist, Coming 2 America works far better than the market standard, in part because it does right by its roots. |
