Coming 2 America. Worth the hype?

Let me be honest, I can’t remember the last time I went to the movies. I think “The Photograph” was the last movie I watched in theaters. Something has shifted over the years with me consuming television content. I became less and less interested in watching TV and movies. I cancelled my Netflix account last year after spending a few years paying and not watching anything. I don’t even have a TV in my room anymore, it's been at least 5 years. I was scrolling on instagram when I saw a skit about Coming 2 America, I wasn’t hyped or really cared to watch it. I was over at my aunt’s house and told my uncle if he had heard about Coming 2 America and that I heard it came out on Amazon Prime. He’s a big fan of movies, so he did not hesitate to search for the movie. That's how we ended up watching it.

When the movie started, the first thing that really stood out to me was the quality of the movie, compared to the first one, I mean the movie came out before I was even born. Oh how technology has changed. After watching Coming 2 America I realized that I should've watched the first one again to refresh my memory. Thankfully, my Amazon Prime, I was able to watch Coming to America and it took me down memory lane. I was really shocked to see that the movie was first released in 1988. This is one of those moments of “I was this years old when”.

Sorry If I’m spoiling this for anyone but here’s what I liked about the movie:

I liked that they took us back in time during the movie

• The flashback revealed to us that Prince Akeem had a one night stand while he was in Queens looking for a wife. Which later on reveals that he has a son.

The acting/ actors

• There were so many celebrities who played a role in the movie, that was the best part for me. Teyana Taylor is one of the actors, I was even surprised to see Rotimi as an actor in the movie. After seeing all the celebrities in the movie, I said to myself I’m surprised that Kevin Hart wasn’t in the movie. It kind of felt like I was watching a musical but I really enjoyed each performance.

The comedy

• I’m the type of person that loves to watch comedy or romance movies. I remember laughing quite a lot during the movie. I like the cast that they have chosen to play Akeem’s son, baby mama, and uncle Reem. Besides the acting, the names of the actors really cracked me up, particularly Trevor Noah’s name; Totatsi Bibinyana (lol) and Teyana Taylor as Bopoto.

The Wardrobe

• I was really in awe with the wardrobe selection for the movie. I can’t imagine how much money was spent on wardrobe alone. Whoever the stylists behind the wardrobes, kudos to them because just wow. The dresses that En Vogue wore were absolutely stunning.

I checked to see what others are saying about the movie, it has been rated 3.8 stars out of 5. I personally really enjoyed the movie, it still blows my mind that the movie first aired 30 years ago. Now everyone is entitled to their opinion, so there were good and bad reviews. After reading a couple of reviews here’s what people are saying:

• 2/10 I don't know what their motivation was for doing this sequel. It lacked everything the original film had going for it. You can tell they were trying hard to bring a strong PC message to this film. It was definitely meant to inspire and give a strong message of empowerment among the black community. However, they completely miss the mark by assuming that black culture is only centered on hip hop references and ebonics. They tried to bring a sense of "wokeness" to this film and yet they stereotype black culture in the worst way. It was a poor movie with horrible writing, dialogue and abysmal attempts at comedy. If you want to watch it for nostalgia, then just fast forward to those parts and skip the rest. (source: IMDB review).

• 10/10 After 30 years and still can pull off not just 1 character but 3 different characters is simply amazing. The same with Arsenio Hall. If people are down playing Coming 2 America they are a hating. I enjoyed it 30 years ago & I enjoyed it today. Hat is off to this legendary Artist named Eddie Murphy. (source: IMDB review).

Let me know down below if you had a chance to watch the movie. What are your thoughts?