Coming 2 America: Review, Plot Gaps, and Where to Stream

You don’t wait 33 years for a sequel without a few raised eyebrows. Coming 2 America landed on Amazon Prime Video in March 2021, bringing Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall back to the throne of Zamunda — and straight into a swirl of questions about plot holes, missing characters, and whether the magic could possibly survive that long.

Release Date: March 5, 2021 ·
Director: Craig Brewer ·
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 49% (critics) / 74% (audience) ·
Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes ·
Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video

Five key facts about Coming 2 America that frame the movie’s place in the legacy.

The budget-to-box-office gap shows a film that was always intended for streaming, not theatrical profit.

Was Coming 2 America any good?

Critical reception and Rotten Tomatoes score

• The film holds a 49% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes (film review aggregator), with the consensus pointing to nostalgia over substance.
• Reviewer Peter Larsen of Larsen On Film (independent critic) wrote that the sequel is “best enjoyed as a party, rather than a plot.”
• Mixed-to-negative reviews from major outlets: Rotten Tomatoes review count shows 168 critic reviews.

Audience vs critic reviews

• Audiences were warmer: 74% positive score on Rotten Tomatoes (audience ratings).
• IMDb users rate it 5.5/10 (IMDb).
• The gap suggests casual viewers enjoyed the callbacks more than critics valued the plotting.

The pattern: nostalgia drives audience approval, while critics penalize a weak central script. The implication is clear: Coming 2 America works best as a reunion, not as a standalone comedy.

How did Akeem have a son?

Plot explanation of Lavelle’s origin

• During Akeem’s trip to Queens in the original 1988 film, he had a one-night stand with Mary Junson (Wikipedia (film plot summary)).
• That encounter produced Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler), who is raised in Queens unaware of his royal father.
• The 2021 sequel opens with Akeem learning of Lavelle’s existence and bringing him to Zamunda as the long-lost crown prince.

Connection to original film’s events

• The one-night stand happens off-screen in the 1988 movie; the sequel retroactively inserts it (Wikipedia).
• This plot device allows the film to revisit Queens and recreate the original’s fish-out-of-water dynamic, but in reverse — Lavelle is the newcomer to Zamunda.
• The male heir premise drives the conflict: Zamundan succession law requires a male ruler, so Lavelle replaces Akeem’s daughter Meeka as heir (Larsen On Film).

The catch: the son plot feels tacked onto the original’s happy ending. What this means is that the sequel sacrifices the original’s message about marrying for love in favor of a royal lineage gag.

Why wasn’t Lisa’s sister in Coming 2 America?

Character Patrice McDowell omitted

• In the 1988 film, Lisa (Shari Headley) has three sisters: Patrice (Allison Dean), Omma (Vanessa Bell Calloway), and one unnamed sister (Wikipedia (cast lists)).
• In the sequel, only Lisa and Omma appear. Patrice is absent with no on-screen explanation.
• Allison Dean has stated in interviews she was not asked to return (Looper (entertainment site)).

Actor availability and script decisions

• No official reason has been given by director Craig Brewer or the writers (Rotten Tomatoes).
• The omission is a notable gap for fans who remember Patrice’s role in the original as a confidante to Lisa.
• The filmmakers likely trimmed the sister ensemble to keep focus on the main new characters (Wikipedia).

The pattern: side characters from the original are routinely dropped or reduced, and the lack of explanation frustrates loyal fans. The trade-off is a tighter runtime but a weaker connection to the original’s family dynamics.

Where can I watch Coming 2 America?

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

• The film is an Amazon Studios original and streams exclusively on Amazon Prime Video (streaming platform).
• It was released direct-to-streaming on March 5, 2021 (Rotten Tomatoes).
• No theatrical wide release occurred; only a limited release in some international markets.

Available as DVD/Blu-ray

• Physical copies are sold at major retailers (Wikipedia (home media)).
• Includes digital download code.

Not currently on Netflix or Roku

• As of 2025, the film is not available on Netflix, Hulu, or free ad-supported platforms (JustWatch (streaming tracker)).
• Amazon Prime Video remains the sole streaming home.

Why this matters: if you want to watch, there’s exactly one streaming option. No rotating catalog — it’s locked to Amazon’s ecosystem.

Was Lavelle really Akeem’s son?

DNA test result in the film

• A DNA test performed in the movie confirms Lavelle is Akeem’s biological son (Wikipedia (plot)).
• This test is a key scene that resolves any doubt for the characters and for the audience.
• The test result immediately triggers the succession plot: Lavelle becomes the heir, displacing Meeka.

Implications for Zamunda succession

• The film uses traditional male primogeniture as a plot obstacle — Akeem must have a male heir to secure the throne (Larsen On Film (film critic)).
• Lavelle, despite being raised in Queens, is suddenly the crown prince, forcing a reversal of the original film’s culture-clash comedy.
• The DNA test is the narrative linchpin: without it, there is no sequel.

Timeline

• 1988 — Original Coming to America released (Wikipedia)
• 2019 — Sequel announced by Eddie Murphy (Wikipedia (production))
• August 2019 — Principal photography begins (Wikipedia)
• March 5, 2021 — Film released on Amazon Prime Video (Rotten Tomatoes)

The pattern: from announcement to release, the sequel took just over two years — fast for a legacy project.

Clarity: what’s confirmed vs. still unclear

Quotes from the cast and critics

Best enjoyed as a party, rather than a plot.

— Larsen On Film (film critic)

The sequel features a large returning cast from the 1988 film, recreating the original’s apartment setting for a flashback sequence.

— Little Bits of Gaming & Movies (entertainment blog)

The takeaway from both: the sequel banks heavily on nostalgia, and whether that works depends on how much you value a familiar cast over a fresh story.

Summary

Coming 2 America is a legacy sequel that leans heavily on callbacks and cameos, earning a 49% critics score but a warmer 74% from audiences. For fans of the original, the question is simple: is a nostalgic reunion with uneven pacing worth 1 hour and 50 minutes? The answer is yes if you treat it as a cast party rather than a classic. For newcomers, start with the 1988 film — the sequel assumes you already know and love Akeem and Semmi. And for anyone wondering where to stream it: Amazon Prime Video is the only place, so there’s no need to search elsewhere.

Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall deliver exactly what fans paid for — a reunion with familiar faces — but the thin script means this sequel will never stand alongside the original.

While the sequel introduced new characters, it also brought back many beloved actors from the original films cast for nostalgic cameos.

Frequently asked questions

Editor’s note: This article was written based on public reviews, Wikipedia, and streaming data as of 2025. No interviews with the cast or crew were conducted.