There's Nothing 'Ripped From the Headlines' In 'Coming 2 America'

In a country dealing with a long-overdue reckoning around race, celebrations of Black joy and abundance can be hard to find—not just in real life, but also on the screens that have offered an escape during an exceptionally hard year. It's a reality that Eddie Murphy has been thinking a lot about these days: "[It's] rare when you have a movie that's all Black [cast and story] and it's not heavy," he told VICE. "You're not just watching a movie; it's pressing all these other buttons. You're seeing a dark period in history, or civil unrest, or social injustice or something."

But Murphy is no stranger to carving out enduring moments of respite: When Coming to America premiered in 1988, no one could have predicted that its story of a fish-out-of-water African prince searching for his queen in Queens, New York would have such a long-lasting cultural impact. The comedy, directed by John Landis and based on a story created by its star, Eddie Murphy, is more than just one of the greatest comedy films of all time; it's a timeless emblem of Black wealth, luxury, and life in two continents. With its glamorous set and costuming (think: rose petals dropped onto the ground by beautiful servants to protect royal shoes), Coming to America became an aspirational tale. 

And now, 33 years later, Murphy and most of the film's original cast are returning to the world of Coming to America for a second go-round. In interviews with VICE, several of its stars—including Murphy, Arsenio Hall, and up-and-comers Jermaine Fowler and Nomzamo Mbatha—said they see Coming 2 America, as the sequel is called, as a much needed reprieve from the cruel realities facing Black people in America, and a chance for greater African representation.

This time, Prince Akeem (Murphy), happily married to Princess Lisa (an ageless Shari Headley, reprising her role from the original), inherits the throne of the fictional African country of Zamunda. But he needs a male heir, because without one, he risks being assassinated as part of a coup by rival leader General Izzi (Wesley Snipes). Because he and Princess Lisa only have daughters—with his eldest hoping to inherit the crown—Akeem is shocked to discover that he did, in fact, father a son some 30 years ago back in Queens, after a heavily intoxicated night out with his best friend and royal righthand Semmi (Arsenio Hall). 

Semmi and King Akeem head back to Queens to find his son, Lavelle (Fowler). They bring him back to Zamunda to be groomed for the throne, with his mom (Leslie Jones) and uncle (Tracy Morgan) in tow. But then love, societal expectations, and other obstacles get in the way: Much like his father three decades prior, Lavelle finds love in a royally unideal place. In the end, King Akeem learns a valuable lesson on what traditions are worth upholding, and we blessedly see the reunion of Sexual Chocolate (as well as other familiar faces). 

Murphy tells VICE that when Coming to America came out, he hadn't thought about doing a sequel, since the original story wrapped up so neatly, with Akeen and his bride Lisa living happily ever after. The idea of revisiting the story and its characters came to him "organically," about five years ago. "What we wanted to do was capture the spirit of the first movie," said Murphy. "That was the most important thing, so if you watched them back-to-back, you have the same feeling." That certainly comes through, with several throwbacks to the original and Murphy and Hall even re-shooting new sections to old scenes—passages which lend themselves to some excellent 80s looks.

Murphy said that seeing the movie's reach over the years has been a great source of pride: "Coming to America is the very first movie in the history of the movie business that has an all-Black cast that was successful all around the world," he said. "The movie kind of took on a life of its own." However, he recently told Jimmy Kimmel during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live that the studio, Paramount, made them cast a white person in a role, which is how Louie Anderson snagged a part.

For the 32-year-old Fowler—a D.C. native who got his start in comedy and starred in the short-lived CBS sitcom Superior Donuts—being part of this story means "everything." "This movie is one of the reasons I wanted to get into acting and make movies myself," he told VICE. "So it's so full-circle to be part of the sequel. After 32 years, it's unheard of and such a beautiful moment. I'm super grateful and humbled by the experience."

It's not hard to see why. I myself uttered the words "I've come to Queens to find a queen" the first time I set foot in the New York City borough. Black celebrities have recreated parts of the film for their own ostentatious celebrations, including Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Buruss, who had a $400,000 Coming to America themed wedding, replete with lions and someone singing "She's Your Queen to Be." 

Coming to America was a snapshot of Black life in the rough and tumble streets of Queens in the 80s. But it also provided viewers with a glimpse of a gilded, sumptuous Africa, ruled by elegant royals and resplendent with the trappings of royal life. For young people growing up in the 80s and 90s, the film offered a vision of the continent that stood in stark contrast to the images of famine and violence that dominated media and Hollywood representations. 

"As a young man in Cleveland, I watched Tarzan movies, so that's what I thought Africa was," said Arsenio Hall. "I loved being a part of what we created."

"Before Coming to America, you gotta think about how Africa was presented in TV and film," said Fowler. "It's just poor and impoverished; that was the American perception of it. And then you watch Coming to America, and you see the beauty of Africa; you see that it doesn't have to be perceived that way. I'm happy that in the sequel that the universe of Zamunda is expanded upon." 

That vision of an imagined Africa, rooted in reality but expanded in myth, set the blueprint for more recent films like Black is King and Black Panther. Some of them are set in a fictional country, and others in an unidentified amalgam of different real-life locales, but they all use fiction as a way of exploring alternative ways that we might envision the continent's present, past, and future—while continuing the work of debunking Western stereotypes and assumptions.  (Although sometimes you have to wonder why Hollywood can't give this same grace to actual African countries.)  

Like its predecessor, Coming 2 America plays on those perceptions—and turns them on their head. In one scene, Akeem and Semmi stop in at the barbershop they visited in Coming to America; it's filled with the same cast of elderly loudmouth characters—seemingly immortal—that Murphy and Hall brought to life in the original. The men clown on Akeem and Semmi incessantly, barraging them with names like "Kunta Kinte," "Ebola," "Famine," "Blood Diamond," "Nelson Mandela," and "Hotel Rwanda." But when a random client in the chair tries to join in calling the duo "those hungry babies with the flies on the face," he's quickly shut down.

 "Whoa whoa whoa, that's too much. You stepped over the line now," says Clarence, Murphy's lead barbershop character. "Politically incorrect," chimes in Morris, Hall's character. It's one of many examples in the film that show the evolution of Eddie Murphy's comedy; for fans familiar with his earlier work, it feels like a self-aware nod at the offensive and harmful stereotypes that once took center stage in his comedy, along with an acknowledgment that the rules are different now.

"Before your Black is King, before your Black Panther, there was Coming to America, which gave a glimpse or representation or idea of what African luxury would be," said Mbatha, who plays the Zamundan royal hairstylist Mirembe, Lavelle's love interest. Mbatha, who comes from South Africa and is making her major studio debut with Coming 2 America, said that seeing the "cross-pollination of Black America, of Africans, of the greater diaspora" coming together to make this film, and having most of the story based in Zamunda this time around, felt like a joyous salute to Black people everywhere.

"Every single day felt like a celebration on set," she said." Nobody wanted to leave. "It's beautiful that after the year of 2020 that brought so much sadness, we come together with this film. It's the perfect anecdote, honestly."

Mbatha raises a good point: It's impossible not to watch Coming 2 America under the harsh lens of 2020 and 2021. For Murphy, it was important that nothing in the sequel mirror the experiences Black people are currently facing in America and beyond. His goal, he said, was to give viewers two hours of "pure entertainment" and "escapism."

"There's no moments stripped from the headlines in this movie," he said, "You get two hours when you don't have to think about this stuff. You're in Zamunda, laughing. "

Hall put it more bluntly. "At no time does a policeman in Queens put his knee on Akeem's neck," he said.

In the end, Murphy, Hall, Mbatha, and Fowler are happy to be part of something Black people can be proud of, that celebrates their many cultures, and that gives them something to laugh with for a couple hours in this hellscape of a year. And seeing Randy Watson once again don that powder blue suit certainly delivers on that.

Coming 2 America is streaming now on Amazon Prime.

Alex Zaragoza is a senior staff writer at VICE.