Coming to America: Plot, cast, reception, sequel

Coming To America is a 1988 American romantic comedy movie based on an original story created by and starring Eddie Murphy in the lead role, along with Arsenio Hall. The movie went on to gross between $288-350 million against a budget of $36 million, to generate positive reviews.

The movie has developed a cult following years after its release, despite the marginal negative press, as it was one of the highest-grossing movies of its release year. It is also one of the highest-grossing films featuring African-Americans.

Table of Content hide 1Coming To America Movie 2Coming To America Plot 3Coming To America Cast 4Coming To America Release 5Coming To America Reception 6Coming To America Sequel (Coming 2 America)

Coming To America Movie

Coming To America was directed by John Landis, who had previously worked with Eddie Murphy on the comedy hit Trading Places in 1983. According to Landis, he and Murphy had a couple of disagreements while working on the movie, which he attributed to the latter’s change in attitude from Trading Places, saying, “The guy on Trading Places was young and full of energy and curious and funny and fresh and great. The guy on Coming to America was the pig of the world… But I still think he’s wonderful in the movie.”

Murphy, on his part, also agreed that they had a tussling confrontation due to Landis still trying to treat him like the kid he had been in Trading Places, even though he (Murphy) had hired him to direct the movie. Murphy added that he had done so as a grand gesture since Landis’ career was hanging by a thread following three bad movies, and he (Landis) had been nice to him in Trading Places.

Despite this, Landis and Murphy would again work together six years later on Beverly Hills Cop III.

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Coming To America Plot

Prince Akeem Joffer is the heir of the wealthy African nation of Zamunda, who has grown weary of his sheltered lifestyle and wants to do more for himself. When his parents, King Jaffe and Queen Aoleon present him with an arranged bride-to-be on his 21st birthday, Akeem decides to take action and travels to Queens in New York City with his best friend and personal aide, Semmi. They proceed to rent a dilapidated apartment in the neighbourhood of Long Island City, pretending as poor foreign exchange students to find Akeem, an independent woman who will love him for himself and not his social status.

During their search, they are invited by some locals to a fundraiser rally for the inner city, where Akeem meets Lisa McDowell, who seems to be everything he is looking for. So, upon his insistence, he and Semmi get low-paying jobs working at the local fast-food restaurant called McDowell’s, a McDonald’s knockoff owned by Lisa’s father, a widower named Cleo McDowell.

Akeem’s attempts to win Lisa’s love, however, are complicated by Lisa’s lazy and disagreeable boyfriend, Darryl Jenks, whose father owns a Jheri curl–like hairstyling aid called Soul Glo. When Darryl announces their engagement, sans Lisa’s consent, to their families, she starts dating Akeem, who claims to have come from a family of poor goat herders.

Meanwhile, although Akeem thrives on hard work and enjoys learning how the commoners live, Semmi is not satisfied with living in such poor conditions. After he thwarts Akeem’s dinner date with Lisa by furnishing their apartment with a hot tub and other amenities, Akeem gets angry and confiscates his money, donating it to two homeless men. As a result, Semmi sends a telegraph to King Jaffe to ask for more money, which prompts the king and the queen to travel to Queens in search of him.

Although Cleo initially disapproves of Akeem, believing he is destitute and, as a result, not good enough for his daughter, he becomes overjoyed upon meeting the Joffers and discovering that Akeem is an affluent prince. Akeem and Lisa seek sanctuary at the McDowell residence when he discovers that his parents have arrived in the city, where Cleo welcomes them.

However, the arrival of the Zamundan entourage ruins the bond between the two men, with Lisa becoming angry and confused that Akeem lied about his identity. And despite his explanation that he wanted her to love him for who he is and not his money, and even when he offers to renounce his throne, she remains hurt and angry and refuses to marry him. In despair, Akeem surrenders to the arranged marriage, but on their way home, Aeoleon chastises Jaffe for holding on to ancient traditions instead of putting their son’s happiness first.

At the wedding procession, Akeem, still heartbroken, is surprised when his veiled bride reveals herself to be Lisa. After the ceremony, they ride happily in a carriage while crowds of Zamundans cheer. Seeing such grandeur, Lisa is both surprised and moved by the fact that Akeem was ready to give it all up just for her. Akeem again offers to relinquish the throne if she does not want the life, but Lisa playfully refuses.

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Coming To America Cast

• Eddie Murphy – Akeem Joffer, the Prince of Zamunda. Murphy also plays the roles of other characters, including Randy Watson, a soul singer with the fictional band Sexual Chocolate; Clarence, the owner of the barbershop; and Saul, the Jewish barbershop customer.
• Arsenio Hall – Semmi, Akeem’s best friend and personal aide. Along with Murphy, Hall also played other characters: Reverend Brown, Extremely Ugly Girl, an unattractive female clubgoer, and Morris, the barber.
• Shari Headley – Lisa McDowell, Akeem’s love interest.
• James Earl Jones – King Jaffe Joffer, the King of Zamunda and Akeem’s father.
• Madge Sinclair – Queen Aoleon Joffer, the Queen of Zamunda and Akeem’s mother.
• John Amos – Cleo McDowell, Lisa’s father, and Akeem’s employer.
• Eriq La Salle – Darryl Jenks, Lisa’s boyfriend, whom she eventually breaks up with.
• Vanessa Bell – Imani Izzi, Akeem’s arranged bride-to-be.
• Calvin Lockhart – Colonel Izzi, Imani’s father
• Allison Dean – Patrice McDowell, Cleo’s younger daughter, and Lisa’s sister.
• Clint Smith – Sweets the barber.
• Paul Bates – Oha, a royal servant.
• Samuel L. Jackson – the Hold-Up Man, an armed robber at McDowell’s.

As indicated above, Coming to America saw Murphy and Hall star in several roles of different races and genders. Following the film’s success, this became a Murphy trademark, as seen in four later films: Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), The Nutty Professor (1996) and its sequel (2000), and Norbit (2007).

Coming To America Release

Coming to America was released on June 29, 1988, by Paramount Pictures in the United States. Before this, Paramount canceled press screenings of the film after initial negative reactions to a press screening in New York City. It was also released on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 3, 2008, with another Blu-Ray re-release on January 1, 2013, and again on June 12, 2018. Coming To America was also released on 4K Blu-Ray on December 1, 2020.

The movie was also the subject of the Buchwald v. Paramount lawsuit in 1990, where the humorist Art Buchwald filed against the film’s producers because the film’s idea was stolen from his 1982 script treatment about a rich, tyrannical African ruler who comes to America for a state visit. Paramount had picked Buchwald’s treatment, with John Landis as director and Eddie Murphy in the lead role, but the project was abandoned in March 1985 after two years of development hell.

Buchwald won the breach of contract action and the court-ordered monetary damages, but both parties later settled the case out of court.

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Coming To America Reception

Despite the screening’s initial negative reviews, Coming To America received positive reviews upon release, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 73% based on reviews from 55 critics and with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website’s critical consensus reads, “Eddie Murphy is in full control at this point, starkly evident in Coming to America‘s John Landis’ coasting direction.” CinemaScore’s audience poll gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale.

However, on Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on 16 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews. Sheila Benson in the Los Angeles Times also called it a hollow and wearying Eddie Murphy fairy tale, lamenting, “That an Eddie Murphy movie would come to this.”

Vincent Canby in The New York Times was also critical of the writing, calling it a possibly funny idea but saying that the screenplay had escaped before it was ready. Canby viewed the film as essentially a romantic comedy but said the romantic elements fell flat, and the film instead went for generic slapstick.

Siskel & Ebert had mixed opinions on the film; while Siskel enjoyed Murphy and Hall’s acting, Ebert was disappointed that Murphy did not bring his usual more energetic performance and was also critical of the unoriginal script.

The film was nominated for two Oscars: Best Costume Design for Deborah Nadoolman Landis and Best Makeup for Rick Baker, who designed Murphy’s and Arsenio Hall’s multiple supporting characters’ makeup effects.

Coming To America Sequel (Coming 2 America)

Paramount Pictures announced in January 2019 that a sequel with Murphy reprising his role was in the works, with Craig Brewer (who had worked previously with Murphy on the Netflix film Dolemite Is My Name) as director. Arsenio Hall, Shari Headley, John Amos, Paul Bates, and James Earl Jones were also expected to return for the sequel.

Titled Coming 2 America, the film was initially scheduled to be released theatrically on December 18, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon Studios bought the distribution rights. Coming 2 America was released digitally on Amazon Prime Video on March 4, 2021.

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