Coming To America vs. Trading Places

[RossHolzschuh 6]

The John Landis/Eddie Murphy team ups that are, in my opinion, both canon-worthy. Could open some very interesting conversation on the controversial nature of some of the jokes within the movies and how they fit into the current correctness landscape. Also, there is always talk of needing more comedies in the canon. Eddie Murphy is truly an institution of American blockbuster cinema and deserves a shot to be among the greats. Honorable Mentions: Beverly Hills Cop, Delirious vs. Raw, Bowfinger.

[RobertBoberts 62]

It's been brought up before and I still think this would be a great versus episode.

[Muthsarah 124]

I've never understood the love for "Trading Places". The only scenes in the film that work for me are Eddie's early scenes. The rest just seem wedded to an 80s comedy movie formula where the resolution couldn't be clearer and the "humor" couldn't be tamer. Sure, gorilla rape. Not exactly funny. As for the rest, the comedy always seemed to me to be subservient to a greater "who cares" plot. Comedy is subjective, yes, but subjectively speaking, this film has never worked for me.

 

"Coming to America", on the other hand, is one of the most glorious 80s comedies ever. "Ghostbusters", "The Princess Bride", This is Spinal Tap"....and "Coming to America". I've heard stories of how Eddie had disappeared up his own ass by this point, but still, he knew how to be incredibly funny. He and Arsenio Hall just run rampant with whatever passed for a script. I wonder if Landis had ANY control over this project, it seemed like these two comedians just did whatever the hell they wanted for at least half the movie's running time. And yet, it all comes together. One of the greatest comedies of the decade.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

Great minds think alike.

[WilliamMendoza 3]

I choose Trading Places. It's substantially edgier than the almost fantasy world of Coming to America.

[Muthsarah 124]

I choose Trading Places. It's substantially edgier than the almost fantasy world of Coming to America.

 

Coming to America isn't meant to be edgy so much as satirical, but also to play into and off of the traditional fairy tale tropes, from a distinctive 1980s African-American perspective. While the colorful comic-relief characters, jabs at cheap commercialism and vanity, and the juxtaposition of a wealthy African prince living the life of a poor black American in dreadful surroundings (while his "humble" valet will have none of it) serve as the comedic energy, it's also meant to be a counterpart to all those European-based often-Disney-ish tales about some ordinary person meeting an exotic royal foreigner and being whisked away to a world they couldn't have imagined. To live happily ever after, one presumes.

[RobertBoberts 62]

 

 

Coming to America isn't meant to be edgy so much as satirical, but also to play into and off of the traditional fairy tale tropes, from a distinctive 1980s African-American perspective. While the colorful comic-relief characters, jabs at cheap commercialism and vanity, and the juxtaposition of a wealthy African prince living the life of a poor black American in dreadful surroundings (while his "humble" valet will have none of it) serve as the comedic energy, it's also meant to be a counterpart to all those European-based often-Disney-ish tales about some ordinary person meeting an exotic royal foreigner and being whisked away to a world they couldn't have imagined. To live happily ever after, one presumes.

 

You may have just changed my mind about where I'd come down on that versus. Never thought of the movie this way.