150 Word Review: 'Coming To America' (1988)
Just let your Soul Glo
My favorite American comedy is Mel Brooks’ 1972 classic Blazing Saddles, and running a close second? Coming to America, Eddie Murphy’s occasionally naughty, heartfelt, and joke-packed fairy tale about an African prince who wants a bride who isn’t chosen for him. He wants to meet someone who loves him for who he is, not his title or fortune.
So, with his trusty manservant Akeem in tow—a brilliant Arsenio Hall—he flies to the New York borough fit for a king: Queens. They adopt humble identities to blend in and meet the perfect woman. Murphy and Hall play multiple roles in this story of a pauper with a secret. (Including Murphy's mind-blowing turn as an old Jewish man). John Amos is a self-made man who still has to hustle. James Earl Jones is intimidating and kind as the ruler of a faraway kingdom. The fish-out-of-water gags never bore. Neither does “Sexual Chocolate.”
This movie really nails the classic prince-and-pauper storyline but with Eddie Murphy's unique comedy twist. The genius is how it balances being genuinely funny with actually having heart, somthing a lot of modern comedies miss. Murphy playing that old Jewish barber still blows my mind every rewatch. Just a perfectly crafted comedy allround.