Coming to America

After several years of starring in rowdy action comedies and con man capers, Eddie Murphy gets a chance to deliver a more restrained performance with this film and he manages to do so very well. Murphy portrays Akeem, an African prince who is being pressured into a forced marriage by his parents (James Earl Jones, Madge Sinclair). The woman that they have chosen for him only sees him for his royalty and therefore does not really love him. Akeem sees this right away and brings his loyal servant, Semi (Arsenio Hall) along with him on a discreet mission to America where Akeem hopes to find a beautiful woman who will love him and accept him for who he really is and not just see him for his royalty. Posing as "common folk", Akeem and Semi get jobs at a McDonald's style restaurant and Akeem soon falls for the daughter (Shari Headley) of the restaurant's owner (John Amos). The film features many hilarious scenes and characters especially a group of boxing obsessed senior citizens who spend their days arguing with a barber shop owner. Murphy and Hall demonstrate their levels of versatility by managing to go under heavy makeup and portray several different costarring roles. Yet another example of why Murphy is one of the funniest actors in recent Hollywood history.

Such a well aged classic that is still as funny as it was, probably more than what I first watched it. Murphy is just a magician in this movie and so well supported by the rest of the cast.

In Germany the movie is called Prince from Zamunda (and the sequel just got a 2 added to the title). And that Prince being played by none other than Eddie Murphy. Back when I was little when I watched Eddie Murphy movies, I always saw them dubbed in German. He has quite the high pitched voice, which may or may not have certain ... meaning, but let's not delve into what they were doing back in the day and how this can be viewed nowadays.

I've never been to New York, but like the Prince it is a dream of mine. He did realize that dream - and probably had a similar stay as I would have! Me because I wouldn't have any money, he because he wanted to get away from all the privileges and see what "real life" is like. Which also includes working and bathing himself (a joke that is quite sexual and has the nudity that was one of the factors that led to the R rating).

Arsenio Hall and Eddie Murphy both play many roles in this and have quite some fun (even in drag, which gets sort of reprised in the sequel for an inciting incident). Generally speaking there are quite a lot of good people here - and knowing that Wesley Snipes almost got the role of Eddies nemesis in this movie is more than funny. It worked out for everybody though.

The movie is not entirely PC, but Eddies character really going out of his way to empower women and what their role in society/Zamunda. The opening shot looked like a matte painting and then we get dragged into the palace with quite a skillful shot ... John Landis as you know and expect from him.

A nice throwback to the 80s (hairstyles and such), although some parts of New York probably still look like this. There are other people who are better judges on that. Good comedy, if you are not too easily offended

I once used to be a fan of Eddie Murphy and his movies, but in recent years the only one of "his" movies that I loved was 'Shrek'. He's excellent as the voice of Donkey, but the rest of his movies aren't exactly the best examples of fine humor (think of movies like 'The Nutty Professor'). It's a good thing that from time to time you can still see one of his older ones on the television, so you won't forget that the man really has some talent.

In this movie Eddie Murphy plays, most of the time, the role of Prince Akeem of Zamunda. On his 21st birthday he'll have to marry a woman he has never seen before. Because he isn't too happy with that and because he wants a wife that can do more than doing exactly what he tells her to do (like for instance barking like a dog), he decides to go to America to find the love of his life. The only problem is that the girl shouldn't love him for his title and his money, but for his personality. At first all he gets is a big culture shock, but eventually he'll find a girl he really likes...

This movie is really one of the funniest Eddie Murphy has ever made. It has a good story and offers plenty of laughs, but this isn't a comedy full of toilet humor and may therefor seem dated to the youngest viewers (let's say those who were born in the nineties). Personally I really appreciated the fact that not all humor was about farting, vomiting and other bodily functions, but perhaps that's just me, perhaps I'm just getting too old to understand today's humor (almost 27 right now).

There are some excellent parts in the movie (I really love those old men at the barber shop for instance) and overall the quality is high enough to enjoy the entire movie. That's why I give it a 7.5/10.

It must take a lot of hard work to play multi characters film,and the hard work of Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall really pay off.They take a very unique idea for a film,play most of the characters in it,and the results are nothing short of hilarious.Murphy plays (among others), Prince Akeem of Zumunda.Akeem,discouraged with the arranged marriage tradition of his beloved country,seeks to find the true meaning of love in America.The typical fish out of water style here is worked to perfection by Murphy,as well as Hall.Also excellent are James Earl Jones(as always),and Madge Sinclair as King Jaffe and Queen Aoleon, Akeem's parents.Jones and Sinclair would later portray husband and wife again 6 years later,as the parents of Simba in The Lion King,a little trivia for those of you who may not have known.There is a clever tie-in involving Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy,portraying their characters from another Murphy film,Trading Places.A unique story,great character acting and a great supporting cast make Coming to America great fun to watch.