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Coming to America

Coming to America

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Eddie Murphy is the funniest comedian ever.
Review: This movie is a comedy classic. One of the greatest movies Eddie Murphy has ever made. It's just a fun and entertaining movie to watch. Not only is it funny, their is actually a decent story to it also.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good comedy entertainment
Review: A nice and funny comedy with Eddie Murphy as his best.

In a imaginary kingdom in Africa(Zamunda) prince Akeem(Murphy) is 21 years old and he must marry with a queen.

But he doesn't marry with a woman predeterminated to serve him as the king and ruler he wants to find somebody that loves by what he does not what he is.

So he and his server(Hall) go to New York City to find a woman.

Instead of going to the richest part of the city they go to the poorest(Queens) and after a series of pros and cons they begin working in the McDowell's restaurant where the daughter of the owner attracts Akeem.

He starts looking how to attract her despite she have a boyfriend.

For me the best perfomances are done by Murphy,Hall and by James Earl Jones as the King of Zamunda and father of Akeem.

A little issue I have found is that the packet says that there are English captions when in reality there isn't any.

I hope the studio could fix this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Murphy hit the bullseye with this one!
Review: This film remains an Eddie Murphy fan favorite and the reasons are many: a great cast, witty writing, fantastic costumes and sets, and astounding make-up combined with the acting skills of Murphy and co-star Arsenio Hall.

A treat for the eyes, the ears, and the spirit is this comedy classic.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Murphy at the Top of His Game
Review: Eddie Murphy clicks on all cylinders in this 1988 side-splitter, with sidekick Arsenio Hall grabbing huge shares of laughs as well. Director John Landis booted home one of the great comedy winners with the 1983 Murphy film "Trading Places," so it was natural enough to bring him back five years later, even throwing in a hilarious cameo involving Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy, who played financial moguls in the first film. This time they play poorly attired homeless victims of their economic excesses who huddle before a fire on a cold New York night. Murphy passes by and hands out a huge wad of bills, for which they are thankful.

Murphy plays a prince of an African nation who stands to inherit the throne from his father the king, played with just the appopriate level of comic stiffness, a great contrast to son Murphy's casualness. Together they make a great team, as do Murphy and Hall, who plays the prince's servant. A free spirit, Murphy reacts against monarchical convention and refuses to engage in a marriage fixed by his father. Jones gives his son 40 days to go to America to "sow wild oats," believing he will return home and follow established tradition.

Murphy instead finds the girl of his dreams in the Queens, the daughter of a "get rich quick" entrepreneur who made a fortune running a fast food restaurant called "McDowell's," which is such a close spin-off to McDonald's that it bears golden arches. Not wanting to win his dream girl through position and fortune, he goes to work at the restaurant, ultimately winning her love. He almost loses her, ironically, when she learns who he is, being bowled over by the shock and the prospect of living a completely different life. At one point Hall wins the dream girl's sister's heart by pretending to be the prince with Murphy allegedly his servant.

Murphy and Hall perform in the same versatile manner as Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers did in British comedies, by assuming numerous roles. One unforgettable scene in a Queens barber shop involves a spirited argument over whether Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali was the greater heavyweight. The astonishing element was that Murphy played every part in this hilarious sequence.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best
Review: Next to Trading Places this is by far one of Eddie Murphy's best movies. His comedy is so qunique and dynamic which made this movie an instant classic. All of my close friends fell as I do, that this is one fo the best comedies of all time. A must have

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hilarious classic that will live in our hearts forever!!!
Review: This is one of my all time-favorite African-American movies. First of all, Eddie Murphy is hilarious (in all of his roles). Arsenio Hall is a perfect foil for Eddie's hijinks. Eddie let his full range of talent show in this film; he played an innocent person who grows into a mature adult right in front of our eyes and realizes that there is a price to pay for love; whether or not you are born into royalty. This is one of those movies that a person watches over and over again and ends up reciting the lines as the movies is playing. James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair are wonderful in this movie as well as the King and Queen. Madge Sinclair was one of the world's best actresses and I miss her greatly. She tells James Earl Jones "put a sock in it, Geoffrey, the boy is in love." Nobody can deliver that line to a black king, except a black queen. John Amos, (whom I have loved since Good Times), is a great actor as well. He plays the part of a black businessman so well, and as a father he takes no stuff off of the King. He tells James Earl Jones, "I will break my foot off in your royal _____); now that's a ghetto father for you. James Earl Jones knew where to draw the line with Cleo McDowell.

I also like the fact that the Kingdom of Zamunda was filled with kindness, and the people were happy, the royal family was truly wealthy and had everything. You know, this movie is truly a fantasy and helps us escape from our everyday lives. Just to see the Queen and King eating breakfast and talking to their son on a "speaker phone" because the table is so long, is funny. The King and Queen taking their entourage to Queens when they received the telegram to send $1 million to Semmi who had spent up all his pocket change is one of my favorite scenes. That music that is playing during the sequence when the entourage arrives in Queens is so wonderful, moving and swirling, I am buying the soundtrack just to get that song. When I get married, I would like that song to play as my "court" walks down the aisle before me.

All the cameos in this movie are great as well. Nobody can play a doped-up thug like Samuel L. Jackson; Samuel is a natural at playing a killer. Also, Louie Anderson was funny, so was Eriq LaSalle, and Alison Dean.

Now the guys in the barbershop have to be taken from classic characters in the black community. In all the black neighborhoods I have been in during my whole life; there has got to be a black barbershop full of men eating, talking stuff, and cutting hair. When "Clarence" says that Martin Luther King, Jr. ran up to him and hit him in the chest, I just crack up, cause Martin Luther King, Jr. was a prophet of non-violence. And, Eddie Murphy playing a white man is too funny, and a Jewish white man on top of that. Now, that takes creativity; and comic genuis, and Eddie's got it. And, Arsenio's portrayal of Rev. Brown is right on target, there is always some country preacher in the neighborhood that comes to every event, eats up the food, and blesses the weddings, blesses the children, and buries the dead.

One of my favorite parts is when Lisa tells Prince Akeem, she cannot marry him; because he lied to her about his identity. That made Akeem grow up very fast, and learn that nobody; no matter who he is, can buy love.

The clothes in this movie are also wonderful. Deborah Nadoolman did a great job showing how royalty would dress in a foreign country where it is warm, Also, how they would dress in Queens during the winter; those fur coats Madge Sinclair had on were fantastic and so were the suits worn by the King himself. His coat of an entire lion's skin was dramatic and the diamond eyes on that lion's head were cool.

The ending this cinderella story was great, love did really win out in the end.

Well, I could go on and on about how much I liked this movie but, I am going to stop now. Get this movie and keep it in your video collection so you can watch it and laugh over and over.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The CORRECT aspect ratio.
Review: Coming to America was shot open matte, so the cable presentation mentioned actually exposed more of the image than the filmmakers intended. Rest assured, Paramount has presented this film in its correct aspect ratio.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: about the DVD transfer...
Review: It goes without saying, this is a great movie.
I'm writing this review to warn potential buyers about the transfer. This is a sad case where Paramount actually cut off the top and bottom of the picture to give us "wide screen". I know because it was on TV and I was curious about the comparison between standard TV size and widescreen, so I played it and switched back and forth between the cable signal and the disk. They actually give us less of the image than was on the full screen! Unless you've got to have it, wait for a better release. This is a great movie that will surely be issued many times. By the way, where's Trading Places Paramount???

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ...bark like a dog!
Review: this movie is old enough that not many people over 25 have probably actually seen all of the way thru...this makes an excellent movie to own for those home-dates...microwave you some movie-theater style popcorn and open up a two liter of pop and it's on!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Academy Award Snubbed
Review: Eddie Murphy is One of the Most talented Actors in Hollywood. Just because he is Black and Usually Only Appears in Comedic Films, He Get's Ignored. I'd like to See Meryl Strep play as many characters i.e. Nutty Professor, Coming to America etc. By the Way, I'm Not Black, I'm Caucasian.


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