I had high hopes for this, with some decent reviews, and IMO Eddie Murphy redeemed himself with Dolemite is my Name.
But so far I have only watched the first 30 minutes or so. Incredibly juvenile hijinks and jokes apparently aimed at the recently-lobotomized. I stopped after 30 minutes because I was at my girlfriend’s house and was very embarrassed to have brought such a turkey.
I’ll post again in a few hours after watching the rest, but felt like giving a heads up first 
I liked the original. I didn’t find it laugh-out loud funny, for the most part, but it was at worst amusing, and it was genuinely sweet and charming, even if some bits, like the royal bathers, have not aged well.
This one…just didn’t click with me. Humor is highly subjective, so if someone else thought it was hilarious, I certainly won’t argue with them.
But I was also acutely uncomfortable through most of the movie. I just kept thinking, “Is this racist? Because it seems kind of racist…” But just about everyone involved is Black…but just about nobody involved is African…I dunno.
I’d dismiss it as a harmless frippery that just didn’t click with me, but…they go back and double down on the royal bathers, which, I mean, they’re sex slaves. I don’t know how else to view those bits. Maybe they’re all voluntarily employed, well-compensated sex workers, but…it’s kind of central to the plot of both movies that Zamunda is an absolute monarchy, which is also problematic. And Wesley Snipes’ character is, just, super-problematic. And, again, a lot of it just seemed kind of racist.
I thought it was a nice trip down nostalgia lane. They didn’t modernize it. The whole movie was shot and directed through the lens of the 1980’s.
I did cringe with the royal bathers thing. but I enjoyed watching Arsenio Hall back in action.
My wife and I watched it a few weeks ago and thought it was awful. I may be biased, because though I like a lot of Eddie Murphy movies and I like Eddie Murphy in general, I remember thinking back then that “Coming to America” was a swing and a miss-- not particularly good or funny. The funniest part of the first movie, Eddie playing multiple characters at once in the barber shop, was fresh then, but Eddie’s since done that shtick to death.
And possible racism aside, I can’t believe a central plot point hinged on Eddie’s character getting date-raped back in the time of the original movie and was played for laughs. Date rape does not become funny when it’s the female date-raping the guy.
I really enjoyed myself watching it. I was laughing the whole time, and pretty much had a huge grin on my face the entire time. I felt like my childhood was giving me a big hug. My prime movie rental age was about the time the original came out, so I have a lot of fond memories of movies of that era. I liked that it was a throwback to those times. The only moment that made me think that a lot of people are going to have a problem with it is the early on joke about how the Nazis look like they work at Geek Squad now. I laughed my ass off at that joke, but I predicted at that moment that a lot of people were going to find reasons to hate it due to that. Not that I’m saying that anyone that didn’t like it, didn’t like it because of that joke. I’m not trying to invalidate anyone’s opinions. It’s all subjective. I really had a blast watching it though.
The costumes were gorgeous. Ruth E. Carter (Costume Design) and her crew did an incredible job.
The rest of the movie just wasn’t good. The script was not well written and not fully developed. A lot of the acting was phoned in. It felt like someone from Amazon said “here’s a boatload of money if you all stand in the room at the same time and let us film it.” And they did.
The best parts of the movie were the clips from the original.
I have not seen it yet, but a minor nitpick; Amazon did not produce the movie. It was originally supposed to be released in theaters, by Paramount, last summer and then December but wasn’t, for obvious reasons. So in the end, Amazon bought the distribution rights, for $125 million. (Obviously, the original studio hopes that’s more than they would have made with a theatrical release. And that’s possible, given they’d have to give the theaters a cut of ticket revenues and spend a bunch of money on marketing and advertising. Not to mention by all accounts it’s not a good movie.)
Did not know that.
In that case, change it to “someone from Paramount said.”
I think that part of what made me have such a good time watching it is that I could clearly see how much fun the entire cast had making it. To me that came through clear as day and the empath in me picked up on that and felt almost like part of the party. Obviously others had a very different experience watching it, but I can only speak to my personal experience, which is of course entirely subjective.
No need to rationalize liking it. I might join you after watching the remaining hour
I watched it and thought it was a pretty poor attempt at recapturing the greatness of the original. Opinions about movies will vary, of course. I didn’t get any laughter from this one.
“Joe Louis was the greatest fighter of all time.” “Rocky Marciano kicked his ass” “Every time I bring up Joe Louis a white man wants to bring up Rocky Marciano.” “Joe Louis was 127 years old when he fought Rocky Marciano”
THAT was great stuff.
I enjoyed it. It wasn’t the most insightful comedy or particularly groundbreaking, but it had its moments.
I’d argue that it wasn’t racist, but it definitely was not politically correct either. And sometimes those politically incorrect moments were pretty funny- Leslie Jones & the candle and most of Wesley Snipes’ characters stand out in that regard.
Where I thought it could have used a little bit of help was in toning down the degree of call-backs and cameos, and in adjusting some of them. I think they should have concentrated less on the “where are they now” aspects, and more on the story.
I found it Ok.
Interesting that the Wokey Wokersons didn’t like it. The central theme of the film was that Prince Akeem in his youth was this rebellious guy who bucked tradition to find the love of his life, but ended up like every other Zamunden ruler - maintaining the misogynist patriarchal status quo- and basically coming to terms with that.
I thought Wesley Snipes was hilarious as the General of Nexdoria.
But ultimately it was a fun but forgettable film
Well I finally got around to watching the remainder of the movie, and I have to say…I actually kinda liked it. Not enough to actually recommend it to anyone, but I did see what Airbeck was getting at in terms of the actors themselves clearly having fun.
It might be a tad of nostalgia; there was something very sweet about all these actors, many old enough to collect a pension at this point, still singing, dancing and joking.
Let’s not do that here. I would agree that some scenes and jokes were racially problematic, but I would not say I am “woke” for saying that, or that anyone who disagrees is not.