An extremely pampered African prince travels to Queens, New York and goes undercover to find a wife that he can respect for her intelligence and strong will.An extremely pampered African prince travels to Queens, New York and goes undercover to find a wife that he can respect for her intelligence and strong will.An extremely pampered African prince travels to Queens, New York and goes undercover to find a wife that he can respect for her intelligence and strong will.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 5 wins & 5 nominations total
Vanessa Bell Calloway
- Imani Izzi
- (as Vanessa Bell)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Eddie Murphy Through the Years
Eddie Murphy Through the Years
From Reggie Hammond in 48 Hrs. to Chris Carver in Candy Cane Lane, take a look back at the iconic career of Eddie Murphy.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAfter the make-up and clothing was applied for the Jewish character Saul, Eddie Murphy wanted to test the make-up and costume out. He got a golf cart and drove from one studio department to another in Paramount Studios. He would get out of the cart and say in his regular voice, "Hi. I'm Eddie Murphy." No one believed him.
- Goofs(at around 29 mins) When the landlord describes the apartment to Akeem and Semi, he says "it's only got one window, facing a brick wall." In the next scene, Akeem is out on a balcony which is accessed through a window. In the same shot, Semi opens another window directly to Akeem's left to speak with him. There is also another window directly to Akeem's right which appears to be from the same apartment.
- Quotes
Prince Akeem: [shouting from the outside fire escape of his apartment in a rough part of Queens, New York] Good morning, my neighbors!
Voice: Hey, fuck you!
Prince Akeem: [blissfully ignorant of what this means] Yes! Yes! Fuck you too!
- Crazy creditsThe "thanks" list in the closing credits lists the fictitious Zamundan Film Commission.
- ConnectionsEdited into Yoostar 2: In the Movies (2011)
- SoundtracksComing To America
Written by Nile Rodgers and Nancy Huang
Performed by The System
Produced by Nile Rodgers, Mic Murphy, and David Frank
Featured review
African-to-American Fairy Tale
Preceding "Black Panther" and Wakanda coming to the big screen by three decades and adopting the rom-com genre instead of that of the modern superhero burger, "Coming to America" and Zamunda is a delightful African-American fairy tale. Sure, much of the comedy is quite immature. Eddie Murphy, along with Arsenio Hall, seem to find the production to be largely an excuse to play multiple, heavily made-up parts as if participating in a series of SNL skits. And there's a prominent gag referencing Murphy's prior role in "Trading Places" (1983). Yet, the Ruritanian romance, but in Sub-Saharan Africa instead of the usual Hollywood fictional Europe, is such a wonderful piece of African-American fantasy that any minor deficiencies in the picture otherwise are easy to overlook.
It's like an old-fashioned royal fairy tale. A prince and pauper, or reverse Cinderella, the prince pretending to be a commoner so to find a princess. The love triangle involving the other, unsuitable suitor. The fish-out-of-water culture clash. The framing of an African, or outsider, of long ancestral roots, perspective on America, specifically New York, along with such American staples as the not-McDonalds burger chain (and other, burger "king"). Even the natural-vs-artificial hairstyle gags work well. It's a highlight of Murphy's career, and I eagerly await the sequel (even if they do replace those charming, if obvious, matte paintings of the castle with CGI), with expectations having only been raised by Murphy's prior comeback entry of the hilariously reflexive "Dolemite Is My Name" (2019). The supporting cast here is good, too, including Hall, James Earl Jones who is perfect as the king, Madge Sinclair as queen, that pretty "ER" doctor (Eriq La Salle) as the rival knight, and even Samuel L. Jackson popping in to shoot a shotgun and cuss the place up. This '80s classic holds up well.
It's like an old-fashioned royal fairy tale. A prince and pauper, or reverse Cinderella, the prince pretending to be a commoner so to find a princess. The love triangle involving the other, unsuitable suitor. The fish-out-of-water culture clash. The framing of an African, or outsider, of long ancestral roots, perspective on America, specifically New York, along with such American staples as the not-McDonalds burger chain (and other, burger "king"). Even the natural-vs-artificial hairstyle gags work well. It's a highlight of Murphy's career, and I eagerly await the sequel (even if they do replace those charming, if obvious, matte paintings of the castle with CGI), with expectations having only been raised by Murphy's prior comeback entry of the hilariously reflexive "Dolemite Is My Name" (2019). The supporting cast here is good, too, including Hall, James Earl Jones who is perfect as the king, Madge Sinclair as queen, that pretty "ER" doctor (Eriq La Salle) as the rival knight, and even Samuel L. Jackson popping in to shoot a shotgun and cuss the place up. This '80s classic holds up well.
helpful•112
- Cineanalyst
- Feb 11, 2021
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Quest
- Filming locations
- 392 S 5th Street, Brooklyn, New York, USA(Apartment & Barber Shop)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $30,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $128,152,301
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $21,404,420
- Jul 4, 1988
- Gross worldwide
- $288,752,301
- Runtime1 hour 57 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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