It might not be what people want to see, someone ragging on Coming to America, but the likes for the video are kind of hard to ignore. The point of Honest Trailers isn’t to be as mean as possible, but to point certain moments that just don’t make a lot of sense, and thankfully that’s about all it does since when one looks at a movie more than once there are bound to be a few things that don’t really vibe that well since like it or not, movies are fictional and are bound to be up for review every now and again. But this one is one of those that a lot of people would agree that’s one of the most entertaining that Eddie Murphy has ever done, and this is a guy that’s made a career out of making people laugh, so that’s saying something. But his depiction as the prince of a fictional nation is something that people either like or don’t care about, which is actually what turns some people off to this movie if you can believe that. The intention of being funny is enough for most folks since there’s not much that needs to be taken seriously about this movie, and the laughter is encouraged as well as expected since Murphy and Arsenio Hall go to great lengths to get a few chuckles from the audience, dressing up in various outfits and looks throughout the movie.
To be fair it is a touching movie about a prince that wants to finally know what it’s like to go out into the world and do things for himself, but considering that he only gets this experience for a short amount of time before he’s taken home to be pampered again, it doesn’t feel as though he really learns anything, other than how to disarm a violent individual that had no intention of being truly violent to an actual human being, and what it feels like to be the peon for a change. Okay, maybe he learned a little something, but that’s a debate for another day since the whole point, that’s making us ignore the rest of it no less, is that he was seeking a woman that wasn’t selected FOR him, but BY him. And wonder of wonders, the woman he ended up picking almost left him due to something his father said. Who else would gladly threaten to put their foot up a king’s backside if that king dared to insult their daughter? Dads, I kind of expect your hand to be raised at the moment, just saying…
With all that in mind, there are ups and downs to this movie that balance it out quite well, which makes a person wonder what the sequel is going to be like since Akeem is back home and has been for a while now, but somehow didn’t realize that he had a son that’s now living in America. Plus, how is this going to play out now that a young man from America is going to be told that he’s royalty and has to adjust to the royal court? So far the trailer has made it appear as though the kid and his mom are going to behave in the same manner that many other countries believe Americans tend to act, a bit boorish and definitely entitled once they feel that they have life in the palm of their hand. And oh yes, it feels as though the presentation of money is going to overwhelm them and make them both change their mind about the king and whatever principles they might have had up to that point. In other words, it’s going to be another comedy pushing the tropes and stereotypes as much as possible, and it’s going to make us believe that Akeem, who rejected several women based on looks in the first movie, would have hooked up with Leslie Jones’ character in his youth. That story kind of needs to be explained a bit and people can think what they want of the words since looking back at the first movie the prince looked as though he was ready to run during a few of the dates he was on.
That doesn’t take away from the fact that the movie was still funny and enjoyable, but if people want to nitpick then there are plenty of folks online that are going to join in and it’s likely that some things that are said might not be enjoyable or agreeable. Hey, that’s the internet for you. In the end though, Coming to America is the type of movie you watch to laugh and possibly go ‘aww’ to since it’s a pleasing story with a lot of humor that’s easy to laugh along with. Come March 5th we’ll see if the same can be said of the sequel.
