The first film comically positioned Africa as “old-fashioned” and America as “modern” – so the sequel has no clear way to update matters and establish a modern perspective. There might also be another sly touch of self-reference when we find out that the McDonald’s-ripoff burger joint McDowell’s, which once employed Akeem as a humble floor-mopper in Queens, now has a franchise outlet in Zamunda, but the manager keeps getting copyright lawsuits from McDonald’s. The film itself has some pre-emptive dialogue between Lavelle and Mirembe on the subject of whether sequels can ever work: Lavelle thinks the Barbershop franchise was successful, and there is some discussion of whether Queen Latifah’s Beauty Shop spinoff counts. Akeem’s fierce daughters Meeka (KiKi Layne), Omma (Bella Murphy, daughter of Eddie) and Tinashe (Akiley Love) are there to provide the womanpower.īut the movie is as tired and middle-aged as Akeem himself Murphy is oddly waxy and stately, and has no authority figures he can really play off. One such female groomer, Mirembe (Nomzamo Mbatha) is, however, a smart and professional-minded young woman and Lavelle looks like falling for her and not the vapid princess picked out for him. But Zamundan princes are still entitled to be “bathed” by comely young female attendants and indeed to have sex with them (although there are now male attendants for visiting female guests from the US). The success of Wakanda in Black Panther means that a made-up African country isn’t regarded as automatically offensive, and its neighbouring state Nextdoria is quite funny. It is not clear how much attitudes have changed in Zamunda or indeed the US since 1988.
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