Rating of
1/4
Ultimately Disappointing
John - wrote on 02/05/17
Coming To America, for me, is a bit of a disappointment. It's one of those films that comes along every now and then, which, while being by a director who's proved his credentials with films like Animal House and An American Werewolf In London, is a little less than great.
Perhaps it's a little unfair of me to suggest that all the blame for the film being a bit 'so what' lies squarely at Landis's door. Although the movie seriously lacks his directorial flair, most of the blame should be put the way of the script.
The jokes start in the vein of toilet humour and steadily get worse - more and more predictable, and less and less sophisticated. Not that the toilet humour is sophisticated.
The script also falls down in the material stakes. What I mean by that is, surely, if you've got a comedian the calibre of Eddie Murphy, you think of more than enough stuff for them to do, even if you think of that stuff while principal photography is taking place. Well, someone should have told this lot. At points in the film, Murphy seems to be struggling to find things to occupy himself. Also - and maybe this was an executive decision and so, had nothing to do with him at all - gone is the seemingly off-the-cuff dialogue and bits and pieces, and, as a result, even though he's on screen the most out of the cast, he seems terribly underused.
So, all in all, but mostly because of the script, the whole thing seems very pedestrian and a lot less than it could have been.
