2020 Blind Spot Series: Coming to America (1988)

Just like Trading Places, Coming to America is one of those films that airs a lot on TV here, one I've been feeling like I have to watch for more than a decade and yet keep avoiding every single time as  I've always imagined it to be just another dumb Eddie Murphy film. Upon watching it, I sadly have to say my intuition was right as the film is exactly that, just another dumb Eddie Murphy movie, one I, unfortunately, didn't find particularly funny. 

Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy), the prince and heir to the throne of the fictitious African country Zamunda, is not happy with his pampered lifestyle. On his 21st birthday, when his parents, King Jaffe (James Earl Jones) and Queen Aoleon (Madge Sinclair), present him with an arranged bride-to-be (Vanessa Bell), a woman trained to mindlessly obey his every command, Akeem takes action and, along with his loyal servant Semmi (Arsenio Hall), travels to New York City to find his own queen. 

They settle down in Queens because according to Akeem there's no better place to find a queen than the city of Queens, and rent a squalid apartment under the guise of poor foreign students. During their quest at cruising nightclubs and places to find a bride, Akeem meets and falls in love with Lisa (Shari Headley), the sweet and beautiful daughter of a local fast-food restaurant owner, Cleo McDowell (John Amos), and takes an entry-level job to win Lisa's heart. The problem? She is in a relationship with a wealthy young man (Eriq La Salle) and he is just a poor African student. 

The main issue with Coming to America is its incredible predictability. There's not a single element of the plot that you can't figure out right away, hence the story is not intriguing nor engaging, and, especially towards the end, it tries too hard to be a romantic comedy when it should have been just a comedy. It's not just the plot that is predictable, unfortunately. Every single funny situation Akeem and his servant find themselves into as well as the jokes are predictable which takes away most of the fun. 

Thankfully, while the characters are all very one-dimensional, the actors manage to make them likeable and memorable, and are responsible for every single laugh I had while watching the film. Eddie Murphy has the chance to give a more restrained performance in the role of Akeem and does well, but it's when portraying his other several different roles that he shows his versatility. The same can be said about Arsenio Hall who does a very good job as Akeem's sidekick as well as the other characters he portrays along the way, easily outshining the rest of the cast. There's really nice chemistry between Murphy and Hall so it was a shame that the relationship between Akeem and Semmi wasn't explored much. 

The soundtrack and score are other big pluses as they perfectly fit the story and give the film a fun and light tone. 

Ultimately, I was disappointed with Coming to America as it lacked effective comedy but the cast makes it more than watchable.