Review of Coming to America (1988) by Ahmedaiman1999 — 20 Jan 2021

It feels as if the filmmakers behind this movie followed the term "Rom-Com" as literally as possible, only switching the two parts of the acronym together! The first, and better, half of the movie is pure comedy. It's admittedly a bit stretched—considering it serves as a build up for what's to come— and has a couple of jokes that just didn't land. But there's no denying it's the part that garnered the movie a hint of originality to it as well as a dash of heart-warming moments that proved later on how potent—and even essential—they are.

Much of the humour emerges from the fish-out-of-water interaction between Prince Akeem and the New Yorkers. So on the surface using that comedic trope in that particular context would make the jokes unbearably clichéd—well, yes and no. Yes because they are clichéd for the most part. No because they ultimately come off as surprisingly refreshing. That was in part due to Landis's decision to make Akeem, as well as his friend Semmi, stick to their character "regal" roots as firmly and seriously as the comedic nature of the story, and the comic charm of the duo, would allow. It's Eddie Murphy who's also responsible for rendering the humour effective, as he was in full control and command of his star power.

The second part is where the movie became almost entirely "romance" film. Granted, the transition between "comedy" to "romance" was quite smooth so much so you barely notice, so it's just a matter of lack of consistency as we look at the whole picture. The real problem lies in the fact the movie totally succumbed to the archetype story it tells and followed it by numbers. As a result, I was able to see how it's going to end miles away. The fact that I was invested in every single character and immersed in the goings-on is what compensated a great deal for the story's predictability, and kept the movie afloat for me. I can gladly say that I'm excited an curious to see how the sequel is going to turn out.