Prince Akeem... Prince Akeem... Prince Akeem... Ridicule is nothing to be...
Oops, wrong prince! But you have to admit, Zamunda's Prince Akeem is pretty damn charming! When I learned that there was going to be a sequel to Coming To America, the 1988 romantic comedy starring Eddie Murphy as the Prince and Arsenio Hall as his sidekick, Semmi, it immediately brought back memories of having watched it as a kid back in the early nineties with my parents when it was shown by the BBC. I was very interested to know what this sequel was going to be like and how the storyline would go. I also wanted to see how many of the original characters and actors would return in Coming 2 America almost thirty-three years after Coming To America was first released
But before watching Coming 2 America, The Man insisted that we should make it a double bill by watching the original as he also hadn't watched Coming To America since he was a child. And I'm very glad he did as we'd both forgotten how much we enjoyed the movie back in the day. We totally forgot that Eriq La Salle had a starring role before he went on to become ER's Dr. Benton. I remembered the McDonald's rip-off McDowell's (Big Mic on a non-sesame seed bun, anybody?) We didn't know that music legend Nile Rodgers was responsible for the 'Soul Glo' jingle, and The Man was excited when he saw the cameo by Mortimer and Randolph Duke - played by Don Amici and Ralph Bellamy - from the 1983 movie Trading Places.
I did wonder why I didn't remember that famous bath scene. But then I remembered that the first time I watched Coming To America, it was with my parents! So I quite clearly blocked out the memory. And who can blame me? Cringe! I do, however, love a fairytale ending so I was pleased that Prince Akeem got the girl in the end, and I do remember that wedding scene.
While I knew that watching Coming To America again would be taking a step back in time, I didn't expect Coming 2 America to transport me back to the nineties - but that's exactly what it did! There was a starring role by Wesley Snipes, who I had the biggest crush on back in the day. I would make it my mission in life to watch everything that he starred in! Then there were cameos by Salt-N-Pepa, with En Vogue performing Whatta Man (although for the movie it was reworked to be Whatta King!) And then there was a rendition of my most favourite Prince song ever, Gett Off, which for me definitely made the whole movie!
Mr. D and I agreed that Coming 2 America made for interesting viewing and while it may have made a good stand-alone movie, for those of us who have a habit of comparing sequels to the original movies (listen out for the inside joke about sequels in Coming 2 America...) well let's just say we definitely preferred Coming To America because despite all the highlights of Coming 2 America, we just felt the storyline of the previous offering was a lot stronger, and we liked the contrast between the urban grittiness of Queens and the luxuriousness of the royal palace. Coming To America is funny, well acted, well scripted, and it's a love story to boot. What's there not to like? Furthermore, back in the late eighties, it was very unusual for a movie that featured a predominantly black cast to attract mainstream audiences the way that it did and be such a hit. So the original was definitely a tough act to follow .
But check out Coming 2 America for yourselves and tell us what you think.
Photos: YouTube
Word Cloud: Angel Noire