COMING TO AMERICA: 4K Blu-ray (Paramount, 1988) Paramount Home Video
Based on a story idea supplied by Eddie Murphy, John
Landis’ Coming to America (1988) is a superbly crafted rom/com that
casts Murphy as Prince Akeem of Zamunda – the heir apparent to a lush and
fanciful African principality, presided over by his proud father, King Jaffe
Joffer (James Earl Jones) and the Queen (Madge Sinclair). Zamunda is a land
resplendently bedecked in palms and palatial surroundings. They even have an
elephant named Babar. Those familiar with the children's stories will get the
joke. In tweaking the original concept, screenwriters, David Sheffield and
Barry W. Blaustein came up with the brilliant idea of allowing their star to
invent his own material for several key sequences – most notably, the various
barber shop scenes, presided over almost entirely by various incarnations of
humanity played exclusively by Murphy and costar, Arsenio Hall as Semmi – the
Prince’s royal confidant. Coming to America is a showcase for Murphy's
chameleon-like talent to shine. In retrospect, the cameos he performs apart
from the lead are sublime, escapist oddities into pure stand-up, Murphy
counterbalancing the audaciousness in this menagerie of fools by playing the
part of the handsome Prince, almost straight and certainly, with remarkable
restraint.
The movie opens in the idyllic and resplendent kingdom
of Zamunda where it has been decided by King Joffer his son, Akeem will marry
Imani Izzi (Vanessa Bell), the princess of a neighboring kingdom. To be
certain, Imani is a feast for the eyes – every man’s embodiment of pure
physical desire. One problem – she has been taught not to think for herself, a
quality devalued by Akeem who wants a woman to excite his intellect as well as
his loins. Choosing to take a vacation in America before his pending nuptials,
Akeem and Semmi are plunked down in the worst neighborhood in Queens where they
are literally shunned and/or robbed by the natives. The ‘boys’ are befriended
by a local barber (also played by Murphy) who inadvertently introduces Akeem to
his future wife, Lisa McDowell (Shari Headley) a community fundraiser. At a
local event presided over by a horny black evangelist with vague shadings of a
jerry-curled Little Richard and/or Rick James (yep, Murphy again), and,
sponsored by McDowell’s restaurant, along with the hair weave relaxer, ‘Soul
Glow’; whose spokes model, Darryl Jenks (Eriq LaSalle) also happens to be
Lisa’s boyfriend, Akeem and Lisa meet for the first time. Having set his sights
on Lisa, Akeem takes a menial job at her father, Cleo’s (John Amos) fast food
restaurant. There, he steadily toils to ingratiate himself into Cleo and Lisa’s
favor without divulging his real identity. In the meantime, Semmi has taken it
upon himself to spend money like water to redecorate their shabby apartment – a
move that causes King Joffer to make inquiries about his son’s visit and suddenly
realize Akeem’s true purpose in coming to America was to find his own bride. Of
course, this being a comedy, it all ends well for Akeem. Lisa has come to
respect him as a pauper, before realizing she has been thrust into the thick of
a fairy-tale. We return to Zamunda on the day of Akeem's wedding, the kingdom
rejoicing.
Coming to America is one of Eddie Murphy's best
movies. Part fairy-tale, part rom/com and even, part social commentary - all of
it gets neatly packaged into a slickly scripted affair to take full advantage
of Murphy's craftiness. The vignettes in the barbershop not withstanding - as
these are played as an addendum to the overall narrative arc - the plot is
otherwise situated in an effortless series of skits, expertly stitched together
so as to never feel obvious or strained. From the outset, so too begin the
laughs – multi-layered and superbly crafted whittled of their more ribald
zingers, into a conflagration of ebullient finesse, heart, and charm. Coming
to America arrived at the tail end of Murphy’s supremacy as the comedic
successor to the late Richard Pryor (then, still very much alive). As
actor/star/comedian, Murphy is in rare form here – his gamut of bizarre racial
stereotypes riotously transgressing against cultural barriers. Who can forget
Murphy as the Jewish retiree, Saul whose bad jokes are so obtuse they are also
a hoot? Or what about Murphy’s utterly perverse little musings as the black
evangelist who helps host the fundraiser? After witnessing a bevy of female
beauty contestants paraded across the stage next to the band ‘Sexual
Chocolate’, Murphy, salivating and grimacing in tandem, declares, “I
know there is a God after all!”
Arsenio Hall, then best known to audiences as the host of his own ‘late
night’ talk show in competition with the likes of Carson (and, for being Eddie
Murphy’s best friend) acquits himself admirably as Prince Akeem’s
less-than-experienced court liaise. The rest of the supporting cast is very good,
particularly James Earl Jones as the wily, cantankerous and occasionally stern
ruler of this majestic land. John Amos, who steps in as something of a
surrogate in Jones' absence, for the middle act, is another excellent choice.
Sol Negrin and Woody Omens’ cinematography creates perfect counterpoints
between the fictitious Zamunda and all too real slums of Queens. In the final
analysis, Coming to America is great good fun and likely to remain so
for many decades to come.
Paramount Home Video’s 4K Blu-Ray is a stunner. Image quality is terrific. We get a brightly
colored feast of hues and textures that pulsate across the screen. Zamunda’s
pageantry is contrasted with the relatively drag and downbeat Queens’ exteriors.
Flesh tones are superb. Contrast could scarcely be better. A few of the
establishing shots, made up of composites, matte process photography and live
footage, appear ever so slightly softer than the rest of the image. But these
were likely always weaker, owing to limitations in optical printing techniques
of the day. In projection, especially with zero expectation for an HD image
back in the eighties, all of this was easily forgivable. Since the dawn of hi-def,
we have all becoming more critical in our viewing habits. Nevertheless,
Paramount has done their utmost here to produce an exceptional image – virtually
‘picture perfect’. Paramount has also
seen fit to repurpose the audio from original stems in a new lossless DTS-HD MA
5.1 that is head-and-shoulders beyond the old Blu-ray release (which always
sounded a tad muffled). This new mix
just sounds more sonically attractive, capturing the subtle nuances as well as
the big, boisterous set pieces with enough ambiance to really compliment the
extraordinary image. Paramount is the only studio that continues to leave out standard
Blu-ray copies from its 4K offerings. Not sure if I approve. I mean, for those
wishing to upgrade now, but still not owning a 4K set-up, there is really no
point. So, a market that was already niche has become even smaller and
selective. That said, Paramount has transferred all of the extras that were on
the original Blu-ray over to this 4K disc, albeit, in standard def. So, we get featurettes on cinematography and
style, the crafting of performances, the score, a brief Q&A with Murphy and
Hall, plus a vintage trailer. Bottom line: Coming to America is a real
banquet for comedy lovers, imbued with Murphy’s exceptionally light touch, both
stylish and saucy. Not to be missed, this new 4K offering makes a great movie a
real audio/visual showpiece for your 4K set-up. Absolutely recommended!
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5
EXTRAS
3.5
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