Coming to America

1988 • 116 minutes

About this movie

Coming to America casts comedian Eddie Murphy as pampered African prince Akeem, who rebels against an arranged marriage and heads to America to find a new bride. Murphy's regal father (James Earl Jones) agrees to allow the prince 40 days to roam the U.S., sending the prince's faithful retainer Semmi (Arsenio Hall) along to make sure nothing untoward happens. To avoid fortune hunters, Prince Akeem conceals his true identity and gets a "Joe job" at a fast-food restaurant. Murphy and Hall play multiple roles, and there are innumerable celebrity cameos peppered throughout the proceedings — including the Duke Brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) from Trading Places. Coming to America made further headlines when humorist Art Buchwald sued the film's producers for plagiarizing one of his works. Buchwald carried the case to trial, where he won a sizeable judgement against the film's producers.

Ratings and reviews

There is no Comedy out there like this Movie I practically no this Movie word for word "What is this Velvet" lol I still feel that Eddie Murphy did not recieve enough Recognition for this Movie & Many others he deserves a Lifetime Achievement Award he's a Multi Talented Brother :)

Stroke of genius! Absolutely loved it! Without a shadow of doubt!

Very entertaining and well written script