Coming To America
Coming towards the tail end of Eddie Murphy’s unbelievable hitting streak during the 80s (not ONE bad movie), this sweet, hilarious, but still lovably raunchy fairy tale is pretty great, and a nice reprieve for John Landis before he went down in flames. It seems appropriate that Murphy would be the one to unofficially usher in the era of African American themed âfeel goodâ comedies, something that would later see the rise of Tyler Perry (Madea) and others of that variety. Not so good was the ugly copyright infringement lawsuit that would come at the hands of Art Buchwald over the story rights: Buchwald had pitched and submitted to Paramount a story synopsis with the idea of it being a vehicle for Murphy. He was turned down, but after this movie came out in 1988, Buchwald sued and won big time, a certain victory for writers everywhere (no doubt), but one that which if you actually READ what Buchwald tried to sell, it quickly becomes a possible case of total coincidence that Murphy chose to make THIS film instead, as Buchwaldâs story was indeed about an African Prince who comes to America, but rather his prince goes to Washington D.C. on a diplomatic mission to go before Congress and request additional funding and aid for his country before falling in love with a female lobbyist in what was clearly intended to be much more of a political satire than what we got here, a near whimsical fairy tale about a prince who lives a completely pampered lifestyle (complete with royal wipers when he goes to the bathroom) before deciding that he does not want to have a prearranged marriage with a beautiful simpleton girl (trained only to like everything that he likes) so he heads to Queens, New York (naturally) in order to find a âQueenâ of his choosing (while allowing his father to believe that he has gone to America to âsow his royal oatsâ i.e. endless fornication), and once he arrives (and quickly has all his royal luggage stolen), sets himself up in a crummy shithole apartment building and even gets a job working in a fast food place (suddenly finding a new thrill in performing manuel labor) before he finds the woman of his dreams, the daughter of his boss in the fast food place and a strong minded independent woman in her own right despite the clichĂ© of having her date a completely insensitive rich asshole (although in all fairness at least it is made clear that she was under some pretty intense pressure from both her father and others to stay with the jerk). Murphy assumes the personality of Prince Akeem so flawlessly that we totally forget about his other foul-mouthed heroes of the era and buy into him completely, still flashing his trademark goofy grin but at least this time in an innocent way rather than a sardonic way, as people sometimes forget that Murphyâs greatness was based upon how his style of humor managed to appeal to all people (both black AND white) on a very universal level, similar in some ways to Pryor, but possibly even funnier because Murphy knew enough to make even his most profane material hilarious to your typical ten year old boy without the occasional mature, yet cynical wickedness that Pryor had possessed.  Arsenio Hall sees the highlight of his career come and go providing able support as his best friend, Semmi, also a goofball by every definition, but actually the hilarious contrast to Akeem in the fact that he quickly grows to HATE getting up and having to go to work, and absolutely despises the squalor that theyâre living in while Akeem almost seems to embrace it, putting them constantly at memorable odds leading up to the climatic scenes of the movie.  The makeup âcameosâ (aided by Rick Baker) that Murphy and Hall do throughout the film work very well (except for Hall’s overdone Rev. Brown), and still seems fresh before Murphy started doing it in almost every other movie of his, with his Randy Watson giving us a quick glimpse of the old Murphy with his biting wit from the SNL days, and of course the amazing barbershop trio, which includes Murphy donning full head makeup inspired by one of his more classic SNL moments to play an old, Jewish white man.  An exceptional supporting cast includes James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair as the King and Queen, two old pros who seem only too happy to be helping Murphy along in one of his classic films, and the fact that Jones (with his imposing Darth Vader voice) manages to score some laughs of his own thanks to some clever bits in the script is always an enjoyable thing to see. John Amos (a longtime character actor who manages to get the occasional juicy part) also gets some hilarious moments as Cleo McDowell (“Son, if you wanna keep working here, lay off the drugs.”), playing up the rather shady boss of the fast food restaurant (called âMcDowellâsâ) which is a blatant and shameless ripoff of McDonaldâs with its proprietor living in constant fear and paranoia of being busted and shut down, all while pushing his daughter to date the rich guy over whom he thinks is the dirt poor Akeem until he accidentally learns the truth and does an about face, desperately trying to keep his little girl and Akeem together until even they become suspicious of his motives. And Shari Headley as the female lead is so sweet and likable that you can see why Akeem would be willing to give up everything for her. Her Lisa McDowell is the type of girl that would kick your ass if you ever got out of line with her in a relationship, but she has such a pretty smile that you would gladly take whatever it is that you got coming to you.  Damn shame that Headley didn’t have more of a career because the viewer winds up falling for her as well. However, Landis’ greatest gift is in getting the most out of his bit players, as everyone with a speaking part has a chance to shine here, from Elaine Kagen’s Western Union Lady, to Frankie Faison’s landlord (“Don’t be pulling that falling down the stairs shit with me!”) to early roles for Eriq LaSalle (putting just enough extra dickhead into the role of the rich boyfriend), Samuel L. Jackson (holding up McDowellâs with a shotgun and that unmistakable booming voice), and Cuba Gooding Jr (getting a haircut), but the two best cameos in the film are better not to be spoiled for those who have yet to view, suffice to say that it actually manages to turn the film officially into a SEQUEL (if but for a short time) complete with the original filmâs theme music so as to get just the right amount of cheers from the audience.  The only major flaw is that it starts a little slow and takes a while to get going (check out the elaborately long African tribal dance that introduces Akeemâs hand selected bride), but when it does, the acting, writing, and directing purr right along like a well-oiled machine. And of course, once the, er, âpoliticalâ nature of Akeemâs true identity threatens to destroy his relationship, Landis pulls just the right strings to bring about the all time feel good happy ending in both his and Murphyâs careers, if not the romantic comedy genre in and of itself (if thatâs indeed what this is), although itâs too bad that Murphy and Landis (both talented guys who are each VERY good at what they do) had such a horrendous falling out during production that they had both actually vowed to never work together again (a vow that they both broke for the abysmal Beverly Hills Cop 3). In short, a great comedy about falling in love and making it all work despite overwhelming odds…
9/10