Coming to America is one of my oldie but good favorite movies.  This 1988 movie starring Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall,  Darth Vader  James Earl Jones and other well-known actors always has me laughing, no matter how many times I’ve seen it.

The movie is about an African prince from a fictitious country called Zamunda.  Interestingly enough, there really is an African country (off the coast of Africa) called Zamunda.   I suppose, the writers didn’t realize that.

In the film, a marriage has been arranged for the African prince.  However, he isn’t interested in the woman his parents have choosen.  He wants to pick his own woman.  He wants a woman who will appeal to his "intellect as well as his loins," he says.  So, he decides to go to America (Queens, New York to be exact) to look for his Queen.   Get it?  He thinks he’ll find his Queen in Queens.  LOL!   Yeah, well, actually he does, but a whole lot of funny stuff happens along the way, starting right when he steps foot in America. 

For example, the diiferent women the Prince meets in bars are hysterical.  Then there’s a singer and his music group called Sexual Chocolate (the name alone has me dying with laughter).   There’s a scene were the Prince arrives in Queens and his luggage is stolen.  The next morning, people in the neighborhood are walking around with African outfits that clearly don’t belong to them.  Too funny.

Perhaps, I find the movie even funnier and could relate to some of those scenes because I lived in Africa  before living in the U.S.  I’ve seen and heard many comments based on sterotypes, which the movie brings out in jest.

Also, I know a girl who appeared in Coming to America.  She was one of the dancers and the bathers.   It’s always fun to see her in the movie, too. 

Oh!  And I liked the references to the 1983 movie Trading Places in the film.

Last of all, I enjoyed how the movie ends in a larger than life, fairy tale wedding — in Africa.  Very cool.   

Have you seen this movie?  What did you think?