I like Eddie Murphy. I might be in the minority today. but I do.I think when he's on. Really firing. I can't think of any other person alive who is funnier.
And there was never a funnier Eddie Murphy moment than in Coming To America.
There were a lot of movies that came out in 1988...many of them really fantastically good and some even so singular as to become part of the American cultural lore: Rain Man, Roger Rabbit, Big, Die Hard and The Naked Gun just to name a few...
But Coming to America was the absolute apotheosis.
Its that rare kind of movie that gets better and better every time you watch it.
Its the kind of movie that -- no matter when or where I am -- if I catch it on TV...I will stop whatever it is I'm doing and watch it until the end (and I'm notorious for rarely ever watching a movie twice)
I've seen this movie close to 100 times over the last 20 years and know every word. Literally.
I can from memory recite entire scenes while portraying the different characters.
Yeah Trading Places, 48 Hours and Beverly Hills Cop were comprehensively brilliant movies but Eddie Murphy's performance(s) in Coming to America was a tour-de-force...just colossal...
And that unbelievable ensemble cast?
The expert way director John Landis handled the stereotypical portrayal of Africans?
The millimeter perfect depiction of life in Queens?
Forget it...
Coming to America is easily...and I mean with the greatest of ease in my top ten all-time.
Sexual Chocolate!
