Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Coming to America [1988] review

Since I was 7 years old when this first came out and it was Rated R, I don't think my parents let me watch this especially with the cursing and nudity. I do recall seeing bits and pieces on Comedy Central over the years, but I never got into it nor watched from beginning to end. Now, 30 years later, I can finally say that I've seen this movie in its entirety.

With that said, for the jokes to land, you definitely need the cursing. There isn't a lot of cursing (or maybe I'm desensitized to it), but there are definitely two comedic payoffs where you need to watch it uncensored. The nudity, while very brief, is needed because one of the first laugh out loud moments of the movie is said by the female bather. This scene is probably cut entirely for public television as it was brand new to me.

I love James Earl Jones and he definitely shines in his role. All the barbershop stuff is great. The rally scene was odd and the comedy didn't land for me, but it was needed to push the plot forward with Eddie's character and his potential love interest.

A lot of this movie actually remind me of parts of Black Panther, to be honest. The African culture that was established was played serious with humor at the right parts so it didn't feel like they were making fun of the established fake country or its culture, just the characters in it. The matte painting of the palace was super obvious, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment.

I'd give this 3 out of 5 stars as I found it entertaining overall with very minimal slow parts or parts that I wasn't laughing.