YMMV / Coming to America

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Samuel L. Jackson revealed in his Masterclass that he played his armed robber character as a Justified Criminal who's robbing the store to support his girlfriend and child.
  • Is the "I worship the Devil!" girl at the bar being genuine, or is she cheekily using a creative way to scare off unwanted attention from a couple prospects she has no interest in?
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Those topless servant girls who clean Prince Akeem's "royal penis" at the start of the movie.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The extended native dance at Akeem's wedding announcement.
• Designated Monkey: Imani's character (or lack thereof) is Played for Laughs, with her Extreme Doormat tendencies presented as comically abhorrent. But the fact that every detail of her upbringing has been for the express purpose of serving and pleasing Akeem implies that the potential for her own personality to develop has been totally repressed, which can make her come across as quite a tragic figure - especially when she is unwanted after all. The effects are shown in Coming 2 America; she never developed at all in the 30 years between the two films. She's still hopping around and barking like a dog, wearing the same dress and all. She's so broken that her brother, General Izzi, is out for the royal family's blood, be it in marriage or war.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Saul and the barbers (Clarence, Morris, and Sweets). Their Seinfeldian Conversations contain some of the funniest and most quotable dialogue in the movie. Their return in the sequel's first trailer was met with much enthusiasm from audiences.
  • Reverend Brown and Randy Watson for Arsenio and Eddie's Large Ham performances as them, as well as Watson's hilariously offkey rendition of "The Greatest Love of All".
• Friendly Fandoms: One emerged with Black Panther (2018) after the latter's release in 2018. It helped that many of Black Panther's cast members are fans of this movie, even throwing a Zamundan-themed costume party, complete with McDowell's caterers.
• Inferred Holocaust: For one gag Akeem idlely hands a huge wad of money to the now bankrupt Duke Brothers. While their now pitiful position inflicts a bit of Throw the Dog a Bone to the situation, unless they learned their lesson from before, it means that two life-destroying Corrupt Corporate Executives might be dangerously close to regaining their helm.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "She's Your Queen To Be" is sung by many fans of the film for their friends' weddings.
  • The scene of Semmi opening the door to Akeem's apartment only to find the king before him, screaming, and closing the door quickly. You'll find many a modified GIF of it.
  • The jingle for "Soul Glo", which can be easily found isolated on the internet and is parodied in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
  • The old men's conversation in the barbershop about boxers is very quotable, and is especially likely to be used to mock overzealous fans of certain sports figures or teams.
    Joe Louis was seventy-five years old when he fought!
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Randy Watson and Sexual Chocolate.
  • Samuel L. Jackson as the robber.
  • Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche as the Duke Brothers.
• Rated M for Money: When looked at from end-to-end, the movie really only earns its "R" rating by the bath scene near the start (where the women are topless and are apparently washing the prince's genitals underwater and offscreen) and the swearing (none of which feels absolutely necessary outside of the "good morning" scene). The rest of the movie is by-and-large a rather innocuous love story. Notably, the sequel is rated PG-13. There is no nudity and the profanity is toned down, with the F-word not being uttered a single time.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Eriq La Salle as Darryl Jenks.
  • One of the guys getting his haircut is Cuba Gooding Jr.
  • Not to mention that the guy who tries to hold up McDowell's is none other than Samuel L. Motherfucking Jackson!
  • Big Brother Jake drops f-bombs as a cabbie (assuming anyone remembers that show).
• Signature Scene: Akeem sticking his head out of his Queens apartment window to greet his neighbors, getting a Precision F-Strike in return, and repeating it because he mistakes it for a friendly morning greeting.
• Values Resonance: Like Trading Places, the themes about how wealth, or lack thereof, affects how we perceive ourselves, probably make the movie a bit more poignant in the wake of the Recession. Especially since more people are working in retail jobs like those at McDowell's than ever before. ^note Admittedly, it's more a Stealth Sequel to Trading Places...

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