Eddie and Arsenio are Coming to America (Coming To America (DVD))

Member Name: welshwickedone

Product:	Coming To America (DVD)
Date:	07/11/06 (239 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny, good storyline.

Disadvantages: None

Coming to America. (Film Review Only)
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Saturday night in and the night before Bon Fire night. A nice quiet night in front of the TV where I can put my feet up and settle down to watch a film, or so I thought. Many people seem to have forgotten the fact that November 5th is Bon Fire Night, not November 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and certainly not October. Sadly my relax and watch a film had to be delayed until the continuing bombardment of loud bangs and flashes had calmed down at least, which finally happened at 10pm. Hurray get out the flags peace and quiet at last, so feet up, grab controllers and scan the channels for something to watch. Finally whilst browsing I noticed that on Paramount Comedy +1 was Coming To America, a film which I have seen many times before but still found amusing, so that was my choice of viewing sorted. Still, enough of my moaning and complaining about life and down to reviewing....

Synopsis.
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Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) is finally turning 21 and as future heir to the throne of Zamunda, he is set to meet his chosen bride of his arranged marriage. Prince Akeem is unhappy about this and wants to choose his own bride so he has an idea. During his Birthday party that night Prince Akeem approaches his father King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones) about his feelings but the King gets the wrong idea and although agrees to Akeem going to America, but still continues with the arranged marriage plans in forty days, thinking Akeem just needs to find a woman and get this out of his system. Prince Akeem takes along his friend Semmi (Arsenio Hall) to America and they go to visit Queens thinking this will be an ideal place to find Akeem a bride.

When in America, Prince Akeem wants to keep his wealth a secret and chooses to stay in a run down boarding house and get a job to blend in so that when he finds a bride she will love him for himself not because he is a wealthy Prince. He finds himself staying in a boarding house slum run by a heartless Landlord (Frankie Faison) and getting a job at McDowell’s owned by Cleo McDowell (John Amos) and his daughters Lisa (Shari Headley) and Patrice (Allison Dean). Prince Akeem falls for Lisa but she is dating Darryl Jenkins (Eriq La Salle), son of the creator of Soul Glo so he ends up going on a double date with Lisa's sister Patrice. Akeem is not put off by this though and is determined to win Lisa's affections, which he eventually starts to do when things go wrong with Lisa and Darryl.

Just as things are going great for Akeem and Semmi is getting to enjoy himself too, things take a turn for the worst with the arrival of the King and Queen to get there son to return for his wedding. What happens next, well that you will have to watch to find out...

My Opinion.
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To read my synopsis I even confess myself it does not sound a funny film but to watch it and see the comedy incorporated by Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall soon makes you change that opinion. Eddie Murphy has a comedy genius all of his own and the performance he gives this is no exception. You soon find yourself in rib wrenching laughter fits as you watch his performance and how he has incorporated great comedy into not only his character but within the film storyline as well. Has he met his comedy match though in Arsenio Hall, in my opinion yes. What a fantastically funny performance from another great comedy actor in the shape of Arsenio Hall. The faces he can pull and the comedy he gives his character makes you see a great film performance from this great actor and comedian.

Well matched? Definitely a yes from me! There comedy timing is perfect and each compliments the others comedy genius uniquely, the only shame is that this is the only film they ever made together. Shame really, but inevitable I suppose with them both having great independent careers of there own. James Earl Jones a man only rarely connected to comedy films gives himself another credit to his career with a great performance in this film as the King. There could have been no better choice in my opinion for the role then him with his fantastic deep voice and yet quirky ways which come through great in his film. Madge Sinclair stars a Queen Aoleon, Prince Akeems mother in this film and gives us a great performance although does not really have much in the way of comedy to come to grips with, however, that does not cause any problems to her performance, role in the film, or the storyline in any way.

Shari Headley gives us and excellent performance as Lisa McDowell and brings realistic qualities to her character that makes it very interesting, yet convincing and great to watch. The performances from John Amos, Eriq La Salle and Frank Faison all give us excellent performances to watch and enjoy as do all the other actors who appear in this film. We also get brief cameo appearances from Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy as Randolph and Mortimer Duke from Trading Places, another Eddie Murphy comedy classic to entertain us in the film, which I thought was very funny and well incorporated.

John Landis directs coming to America and I feel he has given us an excellent and very entertaining film. John Landis is now a very accomplished Director who has brought us other great entertainment films such as Trading Places, An American Werewolf in London, The Three Amigos, Oscar and Spies like Us. He does a fantastic job with this film giving it great entertainment value in my opinion.

Finally, my review would not be complete without mentioning the Barber Shop scenes that regularly appear through the film in which we see both Murphy and Hall dress up as different characters in the film and again give us very entertaining and comical performances to entertain us. Eddie Murphy not only stars as Prince Akeem in the film, but as Clarence, Randy Watson and Saul, with Arsenio Hall taking on the characters of the extremely ugly woman in the club, Morris, Reverend Brown as well as his main character Semmi. I think this film deserves and excellent 9.7/10 for its great comedy and entertainment value. To me it does not matter how many times I watch it, I still find it very funny every time.

Technical Information.
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Eddie Murphy Prince Akeem / Clarence / Randy Watson / Saul.
Arsenio Hall Semmi / Ugly Woman in Club / Morris / Reverend Brown
James Earl Jones King Jaffe Joffer
Paul Bates Oha
Madge Sinclair Queen Aoleon
Sheila Johnson Lady-in-waiting
Cuba Gooding Jr. Boy in chair.
Eriq La Salle Daryl Jenks
Shari Headley Lisa McDowell
Allison Dean Patrice McDowell
John Amos Cleo McDowell

Director John Landis
Certificate 15 years and over
Year 1988
Screen Widescreen 1.78:1 Anamorphic
Languages English - Dolby Digital (5.1), German
Subtitles Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, English for the Hearing Impaired, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Turkish.
Duration 1 hour and 52 minutes (approx)




Interesting Film Facts.
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In addition to my review, I thought it would be a nice touch to add one or two additional interesting facts about the film for everyone to read. The first is that during the scene where we first meet the Barber in his shop we see a young boy having his haircut. This boy went on to become a star in his own right since appearing in this film as the boy was none other than a very young Cuba Gooding Jnr. Another actor who made a cameo appearance in this film was Samuel L Jackson as the hold-up man. Finally, my last interesting film fact is a major error made during this film in which as the Landlord shows Murphy and Hall the room he tells them the former tenant was a blind man and there was only one window in the room facing a brick wall, yet when they enter the room there is no brick wall across window and later Eddie Murphy is standing on the balcony outside the window with Hall looking out at him from a second window in the room.

I hope you enjoyed my review and take the time to give this film a viewing.



Welshwickedone © November 2006.

Summary: A must watch film.