Coming to America

    Coming to America
    1988

    Synopsis

    An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble.

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    Cast

    • Eddie MurphyPrince Akeem / Clarence / Randy Watson / Saul
    • Arsenio HallSemmi / Extremely Ugly Girl / Morris / Reverend Brown
    • Shari HeadleyLisa McDowell
    • John AmosCleo McDowell
    • James Earl JonesKing Jaffe Joffer
    • Madge SinclairQueen Aoleon
    • Eriq La SalleDarryl Jenks
    • Allison DeanPatrice McDowell
    • Frankie FaisonLandlord
    • Louie AndersonMaurice

    Recommendations

    • 100

      Film Threat

      Eddie Murphy does everything in this movie successfully. Coming To America remains his most personal work and a great argument that a movie can be decent and wholesome despite having enough profanity to make Bill Cosby lose sleep. A perfect argument for Eddie Murphy as decent guy even without the fame and fortune. Not that he's planning on giving it back though.
    • 88

      Chicago Tribune

      It's a sweet, oft-told story, and Murphy and Hall add a number of very sharp supporting roles-hidden by makeup-to add spice to the general level of gentleness. [1 Jul 1988, p.A]
    • 75

      San Francisco Chronicle

      Eddie Murphy's latest picture, Coming to America, is a harmless, fairly amusing comedy that will delight Eddie Murphy fans and keep everyone else mildly entertained. [30 Jun 1988, p.E1]
    • 70

      The New York Times

      Though Coming to America is a romantic comedy the director steers the film more often toward quick, in-and-out comic situations and gags that are only mildly funny. In part this is due to the fact that Mr. Murphy plays the prince with cheerful, low-keyed innocence that is completely legitimate, but is not supported by the short attention span of the screenplay. The romance is tepid.
    • 63

      Boston Globe

      The romantic stuff is tepid. Luckily, his onscreen buddy, Hall, never strays far. Coming to America is at its best when they're playing off each other, and not just as the prince and his buddy. [29 Jun 1988, p.69]
    • 60

      Washington Post

      The main pleasure in America comes in the romancing of prince and pauper. But the comedy is a mere handmaiden.
    • 60

      Washington Post

      Coming to America isn't as aggressively awful as the "Cop" films or "The Golden Child," but at least in those films there was something to react to. In making Coming to America, Murphy seems to have set his sights on the lowest prize imaginable. He aspires to blandness.
    • 10

      Variety

      Coming to America starts on a bathroom joke, quickly followed by a gag about private parts, then wanders in search of something equally original for Eddie Murphy to do for another couple of hours. It's a true test for loyal fans.

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