BEFORE: James Earl Jones carries over from "The Lion King" as I hit another century mark - I do try my best to make sure that at least every hundredth film is one of some import, but really, I just never know. This film was originally supposed to be released in theaters in August 2020, but of course the pandemic made that impossible. The films of 2020 seemed to take one of two possible release paths, they either went to streaming platforms (with or without a small theatrical release), or the studios delayed release for a year, as with "Black Widow" and "Top Gun: Maverick". Thanks to the change in Oscar qualification rules, it's impossible to say that all of the "good" films got shelved and the "less good" ones went to streaming, because some studios jumped at the chance to get their films streamed into homes and still remain eligible for awards.
Umm, since "Coming 2 America" wasn't likely to win any Oscars, it's very possible that this one isn't great, so I'll just have to see. It found a home on Amazon Prime, but let's acknowledge that the entire movie release process is a big mess right now, especially when you throw in HBO Max streaming first-run films WHILE they're in theaters - this would have been unimaginable a year ago, and what this holds for the future is anyone's guess. Theaters are re-opening in NYC and L.A., but do people feel safe leaving their homes? Will "Godzilla vs. Kong" draw them out, or will the middle class spend their money on streaming services instead?
Such questions are a bit above my pay grade - let me pimp for Turner Classic Movies, instead. Here's tomorrow's "31 Days of Oscar" line-up for Day 7, Wednesday, April 7:
7:00 am "Gandhi" (1982) - SEEN IT
10:15 am "Gaslight" (1944) - SEEN IT
12:15 pm "Giant" (1956) - SEEN IT
3:45 pm "Gigi" (1958) - SEEN IT
6:00 pm "The Goodbye Girl" (1977) - SEEN IT
8:00 pm "Goodbye Mr. Chips" (1939)
10:15 pm "Grand Hotel" (1932) - SEEN IT
12:15 am "Grand Prix" (1966)
3:30 am "The Great Lie" (1941)
5:30 am "The Great Race" (1965) - SEEN IT
I got a pretty good run going here with the letter "G" - I've seen 7 out of 10. I have seen the remake of "Goodbye Mr. Chips" with Peter O'Toole, but I never watched the 1939 version. But still, I'm up to 44 seen out of 80, which is 55%. But my stats will probably take another dip over the coming weekend.
THE PLOT: The African monarch Akeem learns he has a long-lost son in the U.S. and must return to meet this unexpected heir and build a relationship with him.
AFTER: Yeah, so maybe I should have tried harder to line up "The Lion King" with big number 3,800. It's not that this film is BAD - again, you can't really say that just because it went straight to streaming that it's terrible, I really did give it every chance here, but it's just so much of the same from the 1988 film. Which I suppose is good news if you regard "Coming to America" as a comedy classic, there are tons of references to that film, plus they repeat entire sequences, and they only had to shoot a couple new scenes using that "de-aging" technology on Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall.
The time is apparently right to return to the fictional African nation of Zamunda, because in some ways, it's just Wakanda without all the fancy technology. We're supposed to believe that a modern country can, despite TV and the internet, somehow still be out of touch with modern sensibilities in some ways. Zamunda is still a patriarchy, and the monarchy still passes to the king's son and intentionally skips an older daughter. OK, so they're modern but they're not modern, got it. And the neighboring country, Nexdoria, is still a militant nation - also stuck in the past, but in a different way. A marriage between the ruling families could bring peace, but King Akeem would rather seek out his long-lost son, because he believes the other country won't attack if there is a male heir to the throne. This is another weird balance, the neighboring dictator is friendly, but only under certain conditions, and a threat under other conditions.
There's a lot of this going around, where the plot tries to have things both ways. Zamunda is a rich and progressive nation, but the king still has outdated sexist ideals. It claims to be a forward society based on equality, but it's still a patriarchy and arranged marriages are still a thing. Akeem loves his wife unconditionally, but apparently not enough to listen to her advice. He's been totally faithful to her, unless you count that one time. We want to train Akeem's son how to be a prince, but you know what, he's got to choose his own road. Nothing is simple, everything seems way too complicated, and this creates a feeling that the story is sort of firing in every direction at once, hoping to score some hits.
One of the best sources of humor from the first film was the McDowell's restaurant chain, which the owner kept claiming was NOT a rip-off of McDonald's, but instead a black-owned burger franchise with a Scottish theme. The NYC-based chain and the restaurant's owner got moved to Africa, along with all the staff and the McFlurby machines, so the king wouldn't have to travel as far to mop their floor and drive these comedy points into the ground. Same goes for the scenes from the old film where Akeem and Sammi are meeting all those weird women in the club - if you liked all this, you get to see it again! Much easier than grabbing that VHS tape off your shelf and looking for a machine to play it in...
Akeem's newfound son, Lavelle, is then brought to Zamunda, and finally we get something new, it's another "fish out of water" storyline, but in reverse this time. In the first film Akeem traveled to Queens to learn about American society (this was way back, very pre-Borat, mind you) and in the sequel Akeem is the young Queens man brought to Africa to learn about his heritage and face the trials required to become part of the royal family. But since Akeem's daughters are portrayed as already competent, and proficient in martial arts (very Dora Milaje...) it's not TOO hard to figure out what's going to happen in the end, especially when Lavelle has feelings for his hair-stylist and not the daughter of General Izzi. (They could have been MORE progressive here, and portrayed Lavelle as gay, but I guess one small step at a time...)
Overall, it's a fun romp down memory lane, and there's so much of that going around - now they've started work on "Beverly Hills Cop IV", which was not unexpected.
Also starring Eddie Murphy (last seen in "Dolemite Is My Name"), Arsenio Hall (last seen in "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"), Jermaine Fowler (last seen in "Sorry to Bother You"), Leslie Jones (last heard in "The Angry Birds Movie 2"), Tracy Morgan (last seen in "Top Five"), KiKi Layne (last seen in "Captive State"), Shari Headley (last seen in "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween"), Wesley Snipes (also last seen in "Dolemite Is My Name"), Teyana Taylor, Bella Murphy, Akiley Love, Paul Bates (last seen in "Hesher"), John Amos (last seen in "Uncut Gems"), Louie Anderson (last seen in "Sandy Wexler"), Rotimi, Vanessa Bell Calloway (last seen in "Cheaper by the Dozen"), Nomzano Mbatha, Clint Smith, Luenell (last seen in "All About Steve"), Michael Blackson, Garcelle Beauvais (last seen in "Spider-Man: Homecoming"), Colin Jost (last seen in "How to Be Single"), David Lengel (last seen in "Richard Jewell"), with cameos from Morgan Freeman (last seen in "Angel Has Fallen"), Trevor Noah (last seen in "Fyre Fraud"), Davido, En Vogue, Salt-N-Pepa, Gladys Knight, Dikembe Mutombo, Rick Ross, John Legend (last seen in "Hitsville: The Making of Motown"), and archive footage of Samuel L. Jackson (last seen in "Life Itself"), Madge Sinclair.
RATING: 6 out of 10 scalped tickets
No comments:
Post a Comment