Coming to America: There was a time when Eddie Murphy was funny
This is one of my favorite films from the 80’s and was one of Eddie’s more family friendly films as well.
Long before Black Panther, there was a story about another fictional affluent African country. Coming to America is about a crown prince to the nation of Zamunda named Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy.) A man who has everything that money can buy but desires to find a wife that will appreciate him for who he is instead of his money and place in the monarchy of his country. He travels to American with his personal helper named Semmi (Arsenio Hall) and rents a rather awful apartment to maintain the illusion that he has no real wealth.
Akeem and Semmi take up jobs working at a fast food place that closely resembles McDonalds but is named McDowells and this is part of the humor in the movie because it is quite evident that restaurant is a ripoff of the burger giant, but the owners insist that it is entirely different.
Anyway, Akeem of course meets the love of his life and she is predictably, in a relationship with a guy who is no good for her but this presents problems for Akeem because he refuses to reveal his true wealth and this does not sit well with the girl’s father, who just happens to be the owner of the McDowell’s restaurant Akeem is currently employed at.
I think I have revealed too much already. The comedy mostly originates from Akeem being blissfully unaware of USA culture yet tries oh so hard to assimilate anyway.
What makes this movie great is that Eddie and Arsenio work together very well and also play multiple characters in the film while wearing lots of makeup. Arsenio actually became quite well-known for being a “hanger on” to Eddie’s fame while having no real star power himself. There are plenty of other stars like this such as pretty much everyone that works with Adam Sandler, for example. Once Eddie fell from grace in Hollywood, Arsenio REALLY fell. However, this movie was great fun and of course Darth Vader is in it for a little bit, which is always fun.
I believe you will laugh when you watch this, particularly if you were alive in the 80's and are somewhat familiar with some of the (now they are anyway) absurd fashion choices that were made back then. Plus there is always Randy Watson of "Sexual Chocolate"... which is epic on its own.
This was also one of my favorite movies growing up. I love the scene where he's in Mr. McDowell's house and he's being schooled on how if he works really hard, someday he could have all of this.
I actually still run around the house singing the Soul Glo theme. As recent as 2 days ago I think. haha!
I remember in 7th grade there was a girl that sat in front of me in class who had an epic Jheri Curl. I'd be in the middle of doing my work and it would drip all over my paper. It happened so often that I wanted to complain, but I was afraid of being labeled racist or something. I wonder if the teacher ever though, "Man.. Why the hell is this kids' work so greasy"
eddie murphy always have a big smile, for me that is charming!!! his a fun man... i like this post!!! thank for take the time for do it!!!
old time hit and classic combination, best and nice choice @gooddream you are awesome for your choice....
I am the King of Zamunda! All time classic
Eddie Murphy is one of my favorite comedian actors. I really like "Coming to America" because this movie has a simple great message! I am of of the best fans off "Trading places" too, one of my favorite Christmas movie!
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Funny means a lot of fun. Funny movies are always appreciated by the Society.there exist a separate place for funny and comedy movies.
Absolutely this is one of the best movies of the 80's, one of my all time favorite movies since I was a kid. It has something special to me, I never get tired of it, if I'm zipping the channels and this movie is on I always watch it.
Perhaps this best comedy with Eddie Murphy. He has a rather ambiguous acting career, there were also successful pictures, but still there were far more unsuccessful ones. His best roles fell on the 80s, after which he became famous throughout the world. "Coming to America" is one of the few so-called sitcoms, when it was not necessary for someone to build faces (hello to Jim Kerry), joke on subjects below the belt to make the audience laugh, and the situations in which the characters turn out make you smile not once or twice.
This picture strongly resembles another remarkable comedy of the 80s - "Twins", Schwarzenegger, who also came to America for the first time, played a similar role to Murphy, who also was not averse to sentimentality, naivety, full good nature to all those around him, a sense of justice , that is, all those qualities that are so lacking thoroughly saturated with capitalism in America, where everything is around the so-called consumer society, whose main goal of life is the process of making money. On the example of Akim, the prince of the invented African state of Zamunda, the director wants to show that real feelings and love can not be bought for any money, they need to be achieved through their actions, sincerity and naturalness. Here, negative qualities such as duplicity are blamed on the example of Cleo McDowell, played by an excellent actor John Amos. In general, it turned out a kind of "satire in comedy" for typical human vices. I liked the scenes in the barber shop, very funny dialogues turned out, and surprisingly, without the typical black humor of sorts. This comedy is also remarkable for the fact that Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall acted as several characters at once, although some of them were only in episodes, but it was fun.