Sunday, March 7, 2021 TyLErPaPEr.

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‘Coming 2 America’ not a great movie, but it’s great fun

BY ANN HORNADAY
The Washington Post
Who among us would
count “Coming to America”
as a great movie? The 1988
comedy, which featured Ed-
die Murphy at the height of
his stardom, was far from a
cinematic masterpiece: The
silly, slapstick fairy tale of an
African prince who travels to
Queens to find the love of his
life was pure ‘80s schlock,
from its plastic production
values to a plot that felt cob-
bled together from a library
shelf of So You Think You Can
Write a Screenplay guides. It
wasn’t even a grand show-
case for Murphy, who with
the exception of playing some
amusing secondary charac-
ters in disguise, delivered a
performance far more sub-
dued than he was capable of.
And yet. “Coming to Amer-
ica” became a huge hit, and
has accrued only more love
over the years as a cult film
for succeeding generations.
Indeed, within a mainstream
film culture completely co-
opted by special effects and
metastasizing multiverses,
even the flaws of “Coming
to America” now seem not
just forgivable but endearing,
part and parcel of the kind
of midrange, one-off movie
that used to define the theat-
rical cinematic experience.
“Coming to America” didn’t
aspire to be great, which is
what made it great.
The same kind of
self-awareness infuses
“Coming 2 America,” a long-
awaited sequel that aims
squarely to serve its audi-
ence, with no apology and
a surfeit of pleasures, both
simple and wildly extrava-
gant. Chock full of callbacks,
in-jokes, knowing refer-
ences and replays, “Coming
2 America” is adamantly, un-
abashedly one for the fans.
Eddie Murphy and Shari headley star in “coming 2 america.”
And, judged solely by that
mission, it’s a straight-up, if
modest, success.
As “Coming 2 America”
opens, Prince Akeem (Mur-
phy) is on the verge of as-
suming the throne in the
fictional African country of
Zamunda, while his wife, Lisa
(Shari Headley), and his three
daughters await the transition
with regal aplomb. The old-
est daughter, Meeka (KiKi
Layne), is smart, strong and
shrewd enough to assume the
role of leader-in-waiting. But
King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl
Jones) has not changed the
patriarchal laws of Zamunda,
which can only be led by a
male heir. When Akeem is in-
formed that he indeed has a
son — the result of that junket
to Queens 30 years ago — his
problems would seem to be
solved.
What ensues is a rehash of
the original fish-out-of-water
setup, this time with Akeem’s
son Lavelle (Jermaine
Fowler) and his mother, Mary
(Leslie Jones), being fetched
from their modest New York
apartment and plopped into
palatial luxury in Zamunda.
Fans of the original film will
recognize the most memora-
ble rites and rituals of the first
film, from the court’s royal
bathers (no longer topless)
to a dazzling set piece when
General Izzi (Wesley Snipes),
from the neighboring land of
Nexdoria, presents his daugh-
ter Bopoto (Teyana Taylor)
for marriage to Lavelle.
(There’s even a reprise of a
taxi gag from the first movie,
updated for the Uber age.)
Will Lavelle prove him-
self as King-of-Zamunda
material? Will he marry Bo-
poto or leave his arranged
bride hanging, the same way
Akeem did back in ‘88 (a plot
point that is revisited here)?
Who cares? “Coming 2 Amer-
ica,” which was directed by
Craig Brewer and co-writ-
ten by Kenya Barris, Barry
Blaustein and David Shef-
field, is less about what hap-
pens than making sure nearly
aMaZOn STudIOS/cOurTESy
every beat from the original
is resuscitated, from Murphy
and co-star Arsenio Hall play-
ing the dozens as a bunch of
old men in a Queens barber-
shop to the appearance of an
all-star cast of musicians in
two all-out musical numbers.
Old favorites are back
for another lap: In addition
to Hall and Headley, “Com-
ing 2 America” features
John Amos, Louie Ander-
son and Paul Bates as the
angel-voiced aide-de-camp
Oha. Newcomers Jones,
Snipes and Tracy Morgan fit
in seamlessly with the pro-
ceedings, with Jones pepping
things up considerably with
her improvisatory brio. As
she did in “The Old Guard”
last year, Layne plays her
character with a mix of fem-
inine grace and ferocity, and
all the young players — espe-
cially newcomer Nomzamo
Mbatha — acquit their roles
with professionalism and
self-assurance.
Even more gratifying than
the playful, if sometimes
grating, humor — like the
first movie, albeit to a less
leering extent, this one wants
to have its cake and eat it too
when it comes to objectifying
women — the look of “Com-
ing 2 America” has improved
considerably. Perhaps the
biggest star of the film isn’t
an on-screen player but its
costume designer Ruth Car-
ter, who has gone all out in
creating an Afrocentric aes-
thetic that bursts with richly
hued fabrics, lush textures
and gleaming metallics, all
of them literally crowned by
Stacey Morris’s fabulously
intricate hair styles. Part
“Black Panther” (which Car-
ter also worked on), and part
frothy, Disney-esque fanta-
sia, the visuals of “Coming 2
America” are a pure delight,
with a climactic scene giving
the term “ruffles and flour-
ishes” particularly lavish new
meaning.
With its previous R-rating
being tamed to PG-13, “Com-
ing 2 America” will no doubt
arrive as sweet relief to fami-
lies eager for some downtime
and eye-popping escape. It’s
not great cinema. It’s good at
what it sets out to do. Which
makes it great fun.
-—-
Three stars. PG-13. Avail-
able on Amazon Prime. Con-
tains crude and sexual ma-
terial, coarse language and
drugs. 108 minutes.
Ratings Guide: Four stars
masterpiece, three stars very
good, two stars OK, one star
poor, no stars waste of time.

Will Paramount+ be mountain or molehill?

NEW YORK (AP) — Paramount+
debuts Thursday as the latest — and
last — streaming option from a major
media company, this time from Via-
comCBS. It’s betting that consumers
are willing to add yet another paid
streaming service in an increasingly
crowded field.
Its backers hope a smorgasbord
of offerings — live sports and news,
reboots of properties like “Frasier”
and “Rugrats,” original shows like
“Star Trek: Discovery” and the Via-
comCBS library — will entice view-
ers. But its relatively late entrance
to a competitive landscape and a $4
price increase compared to its prede-
cessor, CBS All Access, could make
it a challenging sell.
“Paramount+ has a mountain of
challenges ahead of it,” said Tim Han-
lon, CEO of Vertere Group, playing
off the Paramount+ tagline, “A moun-
tain of entertainment.” (The venera-
ble Paramount logo features — you
guessed it — a mountain, and the
streamer’s recent ad campaign fea-
tured a number of characters from
its shows climbing a snowy peak.)
Over the last year and a half more
and more streaming services have de-
buted to challenge the reigning trium-
virate of Netflix, Hulu and Amazon
Prime. Disney+ kicked things off in
late 2019, followed by WarnerMedia’s
HBO Max, NBCUniversal’s Peacock
and Discovery+.
In a way, ViacomCBS is a pioneer;
CBS, then a separate company, de-
buted CBS All Access in 2014. The
new service effectively rebrands All
Access and adds other Viacom Prop-
erties channels including Comedy
Central, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon.
But Paramount+ could have a
brand awareness problem, Hanlon
said. Most people associate the name
Paramount with the mountainous ti-
tle card that appears before movies.
“Most consumers have very little un-
derstanding that Viacom, Paramount
and CBS have the same parent, so the
marketing team has a big job in front
of it,” he said.
Second, the pricing may leave
some scratching their heads. The
ad-free tier launching Thursday is
$10 a month. That’s the same price as
CBS All Access’ ad-free version, and
$4 more than ad-supported CBS All
Access, although the new service will
offer a lot more material, including
live news and sports. A $5 monthly
ad-supported version will launch in
June, but it won’t include the live lo-
cal CBS stations that CBS All Access
offered. Showtime and BET+, both
owned by ViacomCBS, will remain
separate subscription services.
Still, the service also has some po-
tential advantages over others. CBS
All Access, Showtime and BET+
now have nearly 30 million subscrib-
ers, some of who will shift to Para-
mount+. ViacomCBS projects that
those services will reach 65 million
subscribers by 2024, with most of the
growth coming from Paramount+.
ViacomCBS plans to increase its
investment in streaming, from $1 bil-
lion a year to at least $5 billion annu-
ally by 2024. It will introduce 36 origi-
nal shows in 2021, including a spinoff
of “60 Minutes” called “60 Minutes+,”
a documentary series about the mak-
ing of “The Godfather,” a reboot of
MTV’s “The Real World” that reunites
the original New York City cast from
30 years ago, and series based on
movies including “Fatal Attraction”
and “Flashdance.”
“Viacom really has all assets they
need to have a thriving business,”
said Brian Wieser, GroupM global
president of business intelligence. aP
“A meaningful investment in origi- This combination photo shows the cover of “all In: an au-
nal programming attracts people tobiography” by Billie Jean King, left, and King posing for
to the platform. And a deep library a portrait on June 4, 2015, in new york. alfred a. Knopf an-
causes people to stay. Put those two nounced Thursday, that the book will be published aug.
together and you could have a viable 17 and will cover the highlights of King’s celebrated and
successful service.” groundbreaking tennis career.
But they may not be taking bold
enough steps to stand out, said Colin
Gillis, director of research at Cha- Billie Jean King memoir
to be published in August
tham Road Partners. ViacomCBS said
some of the studio’s films, including
“Mission: Impossible 7” and “A Quiet
Place Part II,” will go to its fledgling
streaming service, Paramount+, after NEW YORK (AP) — Bil- world I wanted didn’t exist
45 days in theaters. But that’s not as lie Jean King has a memoir yet,” King writes in her book,
bold a step as HBO Max has done, coming this summer, and she according to an excerpt pro-
releasing 17 of their films on HBO calls it a journey to her “au- vided by Knopf. “It would be
Max the same day they’re released thentic self.” up to my generation to cre-
in theaters. Alfred A. Knopf an- ate it.”
“That type of strategy, plus being nounced Thursday that “All King is also the author of
late to the market, looks a lot like a In: An Autobiography” will “Pressure is a Privilege: Les-
‘me too’ move’,” Gillis said. “If they be published Aug. 17. It sons I’ve Learned from Life
want to act like a second tier stream- will cover the highlights of and the Battle of the Sexes,”
ing service, they’re doing a fantastic her celebrated and ground- released in 2008. King pub-
job.” breaking tennis career, in- lished a memoir in the early
cluding her 39 Grand Slam ti- 1980s, “Billie Jean King: The
tles and her defeat of Bobby Autobiography,” but says she
Riggs in the famous “Battle rushed it out at the urging of

Disneyland, other California theme parks to reopen
The Washington Post
Disneyland and other theme
parks in California will be able to
reopen for the first time in more than
a year — at reduced capacity, and
with mandatory masking — as early
as April 1, under new guidelines re-
leased Friday by the California De-
partment of Public Health.
In a news release, the department
said the capacity allowed at amuse-
ment parks will be determined
based on what tier they’re in, which
is based on a series of health met-
rics. Those in the red tier will only
be able to open at 15% capacity; that
will increase to 25% in the orange
tier and 35% in yellow.
Previously, counties had to be in
the least-restrictive yellow tier for
theme parks to reopen, according to
the L.A. Times. Both Orange county
and Los Angeles county, where Dis-
neyland and University Studios Hol-
lywood are located, are now in the
of the Sexes” match in 1973.
King, 77, will also write
about her activism on be-
her then-manager, who was
concerned about her finances
in the wake of her outing.
half of women in tennis and “That book was incom-
most-restrictive purple tier. But ac-
beyond, and such private plete and written at a mo-
cording to news reports, both are
struggles as an eating disor- ment when I was not ready
close to moving up to red.
der and acknowledging her to share my truth,” she said
The new guidelines also let out-
sexual identity. She was mar- in a statement to The As-
door sports and live performances
ried to Larry King (no rela- sociated Press. “’All In’
start with limited numbers of peo-
tion to the late broadcaster) is the first portrait of my
ple on April 1. Capacity will also be
for more than a decade be- life in full, told in my own
tied to which tier the county is in,
fore being outed in 1981. She words.”
according to the state’s announce-
has said she did not feel en- “All In” is being edited
ment.
tirely comfortable being gay by Jonathan Segal, who
Only residents of California will
until she was 51. has worked on memoirs
be allowed to visit the amusement
“Early on, what was most by Andre Agassi and Ar-
parks.
apparent to me was that the thur Ashe.

Netflix debuts ‘Fast Laughs’clip feature for iPhones that resembles TikTok app
BY ELIZABETH ELKIN
Bloomberg
Netflix Inc. is pushing
deeper into short video
clips that viewers watch on
their phones, putting the
streaming giant in closer
competition with the likes
of TikTok.
The company is rolling
out a feature called “Fast
Laughs” that provides a feed
of comedic clips from Net-
flix’s catalog of films, shows
and stand-up specials. When
one clip ends, another be-
gins automatically — just
like TikTok — and users can
flip through them quickly.
After testing the feature for
months, Netflix is now roll-
ing it out more broadly. It’s
available on iPhone devices
in select countries, including
the U.S., U.K. and Canada.
The move marks a deeper
foray into social media for
the world’s largest paid
streaming service. Netflix
lets Fast Laughs users share
clips on other platforms, in-
cluding WhatsApp, Insta-
gram, Snapchat and Twitter.
And they can add content
from the feature directly to
their Netflix watch lists.
The company also aims to
resolve a common problem
with customers: paralysis
over which of its hundreds of
shows to watch. Short clips
that cycle through don’t re-
quire them to make a deci-
sion — or much of a commit-
ment.
“We’re always looking for
new ways to entertain and
make discovery easier for
members,” Patrick Flem-
ming, director of product in-
novation at Netflix, said in a
statement.
Netflix is looking to ex-
pand Fast Laughs to An-
droid phones in the coming
months. It’s currently only
available for adult custom-
ers, since not all the clips are
appropriate for children.