Tag: Tracy Morgan

‘Coming 2 America’ (2021) Review

With King Joffer (James Earl Jones) on his deathbed, Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) is set to become King of Zamunda. However, given the country’s tradition of male heirs taking the throne, a neighboring country is planning a war to seize power, as Prince Akeem has three daughters and no sons.

Akeem resists the proposition of marrying his eldest daughter to the son of General Izzi (Wesley Snipes), the brother of Akeem’s once-intended bride. Just before his death, King Joffer and Semmi (Arsenio Hall) reveal to Akeem that he has an illegitimate son in Queens, thanks to a one-night stand Akeem can’t remember. And so, to protect Zamunda’s future, Akeem and Semmi travel back to New York to find Akeem’s son, Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler).

I enjoyed Coming to America, and of course, I was excited to see what Eddie Murphy would do with the sequel. While I didn’t love it, it wasn’t a massive disappointment either. It was enjoyable to see familiar characters again, and I quite liked the introduction of several new characters, including Jermaine Fowler as Akeem’s son and Leslie Jones as his mother.

The majority of the film takes place in Zamunda, this time with Queens being but a blip on the movie’s radar – Akeem and Semmi are there just long enough to fit in a few gags with the barbers and Reverend Brown – and the story centers on Lavelle and his journey to becoming worthy of being King. Of course, Akeem’s daughter, Meeka (Kiki Layne), is not welcoming to Lavelle. You can’t blame her, considering she has devoted her life to Zamunda and should be in line for the throne if not for Zamunda’s outdated traditions and customs.

The story itself isn’t terrible, since it explores many progressive themes. Still, part of what made Coming to America so great was the interactions and friendship between Akeem and Semmi as they tried to adapt to America. Coming 2 America definitely lacks that charm, although Murphy and Hall still have great chemistry.

Akeem is much older now, so it makes sense that he’s also wiser, but his gentle naivete made him likable and funny. There is also a distinct lack of Semmi, I am sad to say. One could even say a sequel shouldn’t simply rehash the first film, but Coming 2 America still attempts to do so anyway, with old gags and characters showing up without any reasonable explanation beyond fan service, like the appearance of Sexual Chocolate and singer Randy Watson.

Coming 2 America might have succeeded more if it hadn’t relied so much on the past. A little bit of nostalgia is fine, even welcome, but I think in this instance it held the movie back. You’re either focused on telling a new story, or you’re not, and I couldn’t really figure out what Coming 2 America wanted to be. I know it’s a comedy, so there’s no real sense in digging too deeply into it, but I think it had a lot of potential to be just as good as Coming to America. Unfortunately, it felt like a pale remake lacking its predecessor’s charm and wit.

Watched: 03/06/2021
Notable Song: We Are Family by Eddie Murphy (as Randy Watson)

Rating:

03/17/2021
‘The Clapper’ (2017) Review

Eddie Krumble (Ed Helms) lives in Hollywood with his best friend Chris, working as a professional clapper in infomercials. It’s not exactly a glamorous life, and Eddie begins to find happiness when a romance blossoms between him and a gas station attendant named Judy (Amanda Seyfried). But when a late-night talk show host zeroes in on Eddie’s many infomercial “disguises,” everyone sets out to discover who Eddie really is, jeopardizing his job and new relationship.

I had not heard of The Clapper before scrolling on Netflix for something to watch and deciding to try it. I like Ed Helms, Amanda Seyfried, and Tracy Morgan. But after watching the movie, I understood why I hadn’t heard of it. Frankly put, it is not a good movie. I think it had an interesting enough premise, but director Dito Montiel (who also wrote the novel the film is based upon) does absolutely nothing with it. Instead, it feels like the characters sort of flail about until Eddie needs help finding Judy, and even then, it really fails to maintain any interest in the outcome.

Eddie is an unlikeable lead, or perhaps that’s just Helms’s portrayal of him. He and Seyfried had zero chemistry, although admittedly, Seyfried was pretty sweet as the unsuspecting Judy. Eddie simply felt like a man with genuine homicidal tendencies.

As I was watching, all I could think was that this movie was essentially what would have happened if Andy Bernard (Helms’s character in The Office) had moved to Hollywood to be a professional infomercial audience member… although Andy would have loved the attention. In contrast, Eddie seemed to lose his cool whenever anyone recognized him.

The romance falls flat, and even though this is a comedy, it’s simply not funny. Not even Tracy Morgan, as Chris, could get a laugh out of me. Usually, with these little-known rom-coms, I can find something I enjoy, and, to be fair, The Clapper is no different… it has an excellent soundtrack, but thankfully you don’t need to watch it to listen to the music. This is a definite pass.

Watched: 04/16/2020
Notable Song: Outdoors by Rad Planet

Rating:

04/21/2020
‘What Men Want’ (2019) Review

In 2000, Nancy Meyers’s film about a chauvinistic, womanizing ad exec who finds himself with the ability to read women’s minds became a box office hit, raking in nearly $182 million ($378m worldwide), and What Women Want became the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time until My Big Fat Greek Wedding dethroned it two years later.

Nineteen years later, we’re given What Men Want, a gender-swapping remake that finds Taraji P. Henson as overachieving, ballbusting sports agent Ali (named after boxer Muhammad Ali) Davis on the verge of being made a partner within her male-dominated sports agency. Predictably, she’s passed over for an undeserving colleague because most of her clients are women rather than athletes who dominate in the big three (MLB, NFL, and NBA).

After confronting her boss over the slight, she’s told to stay in her lane because it’s what she’s good at. Using this offense as fuel, Ali becomes determined to sign Jamal Barry (Shane Paul McGhie), the projected number-one pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Unfortunately, Barry comes with an eccentric, greedy, ego-driven father (Tracy Morgan) who calls himself Joe Dollar. He also calls all the shots for Jamal’s future, making Ali’s goal more difficult.

That is, until she drinks some dirty tea from a weed-dealing psychic (a scenery-chewing Erykah Badu) on the night of her friend’s bachelorette party and knocks herself out dancing at a club. When she wakes up, she realizes she can read men’s thoughts. After the subsequent freak-out, Ali realizes she may be able to use her newfound ability to successfully court Jamal and his father while discovering just why her male colleagues continue to railroad her promotion.

While Mel Gibson’s character was a jerk who needed women’s thoughts to help him get in touch with his feminine side in What Women Want, Ali is much more likable, her tough exterior understandable given her work environment and the fact that she was raised by a single father who surrounded her with sports. Ali believes she needs to be ruthless and unrelenting to succeed, and while that is probably true, she begins to realize some of her male colleagues think she’s the male equivalent of a dick.

You can tell this begins to unsettle Ali, especially when her behavior starts to strain her relationship with not only her friends (played by Phoebe Robinson, Tamala Jones, and Wendi McLendon-Covey), but with her new romantic interest Will (Aldis Hodge), a single father who Ali was initially using as her fake husband to impress Joe Dollar but then, of course, began to have real feelings for when she realizes – or rather, hears – how much he adores her.

Director Adam Shankman delivers a movie that is determined to straddle the line between outlandish and heartfelt, but instead, it just feels muddled and disjointed. What Men Want is raunchy and silly, and there aren’t many genuine laughs. Tracy Morgan essentially plays his character, Tracy Jordan, from 30 Rock. Pete Davidson appears as a closeted gay employee whose only purpose seems to be thinking about dick and saying ”fuck” a lot on the phone. Nearly every thought Ali hears from the men around her is vulgar, idiotic, or nonsensical. Basically, it’s exactly what you would expect in a movie like this.

I found Henson to be the film’s only saving grace. She brings radiance and strength to the role of Ali, not to mention the kind of likability that was most definitely needed, especially towards the end of the film, when Ali uses her gift in a cringeworthy, mean-spirited moment disguised as the spirit of truth. The underlying theme here is: What is the responsibility of someone who finds themselves in Ali’s position? Do they have an obligation to reveal some brutal truths? It’s an interesting question, but unfortunately, the answer is barely addressed.

Ultimately, Ali doesn’t need to learn to be more feminine or accessible to men. She needs to learn to empower herself without the approval of the men in her life, let her guard down, and be open to the idea that she can succeed independently rather than depending on being part of the boys’ club.

I enjoyed What Men Want for Henson’s performance and some brief, fun moments, but otherwise the movie is just a cookie-cutter rom-com trying to project a more profound message and failing.

Watched: 02/07/2019
Notable Song: Push It by Salt-N-Pepa

Rating:

02/08/2019