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Blerd Film Club: Coming To America


One of the things that is so enjoyable about Eddie Murphy films is that the casts are almost always made up of Eddie's friends, family and comedians or actors he wanted to work with. Such is the case of Legendary films like Harlem Knights and of course Coming to America.

The film centers around Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) who has lived a pampered life and is set to get married to his hand picked bride. However, he doesn't wish for this life. He'd rather live a life where he wasn't so pampered and could be his own man. After some arguing with his parents Akeem is joined by Semmi (Arsenio Hall) his best friend and assistant on a trip to America to find a wife.

The two move into a run down apartment in Queens New York. Semmi hates it immediately and is ready to return home. Akeem however loves it. At a rally to raise money for the inner city Akeem meets and falls in love with Lisa McDowell (Sheri Headley). He applies for a job at McDowels almost immediately. There he meets Lisa's Father Cleo (John Amos) and an odd employee named Maurice (Louie Anderson).

Akeem tries to win Lisa's heart but Daryl Jenks (Eriq La Salle) her boyfriend and heir to the Soul Glow fortune doesn't make it easy. Akeem and Lisa start dating after Daryl announces their engagement without asking Lisa. Akeem's cover is almost blown when Semi spends money on pimping out the apartment.

Semmi calls Akeem's parents, which causes Akeem to go into hiding with Lisa at the McDowel's home. There Cleo learns Akeem is a prince when Daryl shows up to fight. Akeem's parents demand he return home and get married. He agrees as Lisa no longer wants to be with him after knowing he lied about being a prince. He returns home and at the wedding Lisa surprises him when the veil is removed. She truly is, his queen to be.


The film is hilarious. Part of that comes from the fact that a lot of it seems improvised. There was no shortage of legendary comedians and actors on set. There's a funny scene where Akeem gives Semmi's money to two homeless men. Those two men are actually Mortimer and Randolph Duke from another Eddie Murphey film Trading Places. Again, it's just a fun movie and to see so many comedians and actors in one place, several playing multiple roles just makes for fun. Even if the plot had been terrible, it still would have been remembered as a classic. I didn't even mention some of the actors in this film during the brief plot summary. James Earl Jones portrays Akeem's father. Sam Jackson plays a stick up man. Vanessa Bell and Cuba Gooding Jr both make appearances. It's a star studded event.

At the end of the day, it is a romantic comedy. Those aren't the greatest films, at least in my opinion. Still Coming to America might be the greatest one of all time. I could spend hours and not think of one that comes close. The film came out at a time when Eddie simply could not miss and from the outside looking in it seemed like he was having the most fun during this period as well.

John Landis who also directed Trading Places directed Coming to America didn't seem to enjoy the process. He called Eddie arrogant and full of himself during filming. Although, this may have simply been because Eddie was now refusing to do certain things or expressing his creative freedom as this was a story created by Eddie. Still, despite saying these things John went on to work with Eddie again in Beverly Hills Cop III.

Paramount actually cancelled the early screenings of the film due to negative reviews from critics and test audiences. I'd like to point to something Roger Ebert often brought up. Film studios and theaters only look at algorithms based on white viewers. They don't take into account the taste of different races, communities or even geographic regions. For this reason the film was released on a limited number of screens. They were however forced to expand due to popularity of the film. They simply hadn't accounted for Black Audiences. The film ended the theater run making 7.5 times the budget in box office revenue.

If you haven't seen Coming to America by now, I'm not sure what you are doing. Here we are, over a decade later and the film still shows on television regularly. They still sell blurays and DVDs. The film is just that good. There might be some odd choices but you can't doubt that it is an undeniable classic.

You can check out some of my fiction at 12 AM Fiction or follow my web serial Exsanguinate and of course hear me on the Powerbomb Jutsu podcast.
Darrell S.

Hey, I write stuff, a lot of different stuff, that's all.

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