Coming to America

Coming to America (1988)

13 corrected entries

(10 votes)

Corrected entry: When Akeem and Semmi went to the local singles bar, they met a woman who told them that she is the wife of a death row inmate. That woman is singer Donna Summer who went uncredited for that brief role.

megamii

Correction: The woman is not 1970s disco quenn Donna Summer. Her name is Carla Earle.

Corrected entry: While hosting the black awareness rally, when Mr. Mcdowell's daughter Lisa is about to give a speech, Mr Mcdowell exclaims, "Be sure to put in a plug about the new salad bar." There are numerous interior restaurant scenes, but there is no sign of any salad bar anywhere.

Correction: Perhaps the salad bar is "coming soon" and he wants Lisa to say something to that effect.

Damian Torres

Corrected entry: In the scene when Lisa and Akim are walking up to Akim's door (when Semi is sitting in the hot tub after fixing up their room), they are carrying groceries for Akim to cook Lisa dinner, however when Akim walks into the room (and every shot from inside the room) there is no kitchen for him to cook.

Correction: It is not uncommon for cheap buildings such as this to have a communal kitchen rather than a kitchen in every apartment. The landlord states that there is only one bathroom on that floor so they have to share, and this is also apparently true for the kitchen. It is perfectly reasonable for Akeem and Lisa to go into the apartment to put their coats down, sort the groceries, and then go to the kitchen to actually prepare the food. It is also not unreasonable for there to be no kitchen at all and tenants are forced to use a "hot plate" to cook their meals.

BaconIsMyBFF

Corrected entry: When the king knocks on the door, Semmi answers it and behind him is a bookcase. He slams the door shut when he sees the king. When he reopens the door there is no bookcase.

Correction: When the king knocks on the door, Semmi answers it and behind him is a bookcase. He slams the door shut when he sees the king. When he reopens the door the camera angle has changed, but the bookcase is still there, the corner is still visible. The angle at which the camera is hitting the door changed, the bookcase did not disappear.

Correction: You can see the servants holding umbrella's over everybody when the door is opened.

SAZOO1975

Corrected entry: When Akeem shows up at the Waldorf he is wearing a leather parka. He immediately leaves with Semmi and shows up at the McDowell house wearing a long overcoat.

Family5

Correction: They did not immediately leave, Semi was being bathed when Akeem showed up. Akeem changed into a suit with a long overcoat while Semi put on a similar outfit.

BaconIsMyBFF

Corrected entry: In the scene where Akeem is in the royal bath, the girl is holding her breath under water for an extremely long time, before she just pops up and says her line, and with no signs of being out of breath no less.

Correction: Since this is her royal duty, she probably trains very hard to hold her breath as long as possible. Swimmers can hold their breath for 2 minutes or more, and this entire scene isn't more than that.

Corrected entry: Akeem asks the butler if he might be able to use the bathroom by himself for once. "Most amusing, sir" is the reply. The butler claps his hands and a large mirrored door opens by itself. If you look closely at the left of the screen, between the door and the wall it's adjoined to, you can easily see a crew member behind the door pulling it open.

Correction: When Oha (the butler) claps the doors of Akeem's bedroom are opened by servants. This man is presumably another servant.

Corrected entry: While at the engagement party, Lisa steps outside to be on the swings and invites Akeem to talk. They have no coats on, show no signs of cold, and we can't see their breath. But when they were standing outside of McDowell's and emptying the trash everyone was dressed for winter.

ckbyers

Correction: Akeem puts his red coat on Lisa because she is rubbing her arms trying to keep warm because she stormed out without thinking because she was angry. You can't always see your breath when it's cold out. And some people can handle the cold more than others without showing signs.

LorgSkyegon

I was focusing more on the seeing the breath than I was the clothing - but was making the comparison that during the trash scene, the breath - as they're dressed appropriately for winter. I know over a period of time, you can not see your breath - but it requires being out in the cold for several hours (i.e. see thriller movie "Frozen" for reference on the "making of"). When he first walks out from a warm house to the "cold" outside... you should at the very least see his first couple of sentences... from either him or her.

ckbyers

Corrected entry: Early in the film, the king says to his son "Oh, you have a moustache." The Queen says "it's been a year." Later in the film, Cleo McDowell says, "He has his own money" and shows Lisa a banknote with Akeem's face on it. He has a moustache. Even if Akeem's country had printed new notes that year, it is doubtful if the king, who would have had significant input into the process, would have continued not to notice his son's moustache.

Correction: Not necessarily. The Chief Executive of a country (i.e. Prime Minister, King, President, etc.) have Cabinet Ministers who take care of the day to day operations of the varies branches of the Government, including fine detail decision. The King may have simply told his Finance/Tresuary Minister to put a current picture of his son on the currency and never actually saw the photo. With all the courtiers the King has who do almost every mundane task for him, it's quite likely he (the King) has not actually handled currency himself for some time.

Corrected entry: When the royal party enters the McDowell house near the end, the rose bearers don't precede them inside, nor do they go with the king as he visits the girls' bedroom. They are supposed to throw roses beneath his feet at every step he take.

roboc

Correction: They don't always throw the petals. Akeem no longer wanted them to do it and they stopped. The King could have told them to not throw them while inside the McDowell house.

Toolio

Corrected entry: In the scene where they are at the basketball game, Hakeem and the others cheer for both teams. It shows one of the teams score and they cheer. Then the other team scores and then they cheer.

Correction: This is not a mistake but rather a joke that Hakeem does not understand the game despite the concept of only cheering for one team.

Corrected entry: In the scene where James Earl Jones walks into McDowell's restraunt in search of Akeem, he asks Cleo Mcdowell where he is, after doing so he instructs his "assistant" Oha to give Cleo something for his trouble. Oha leaves a note on the counter and Cleo picks it up and looks at it and in the next scene, the note remains on the counter untouched.

Correction: The assistant throws 2 notes onto the bench. Cleo picks up one and looks at it, leaving one note on the bench.

He only gives him one note.

Bishop73

Revealing mistake: While Akeem is getting his hair cut, you can see the reflection of the white character he plays in the mirror. It is quite obviously a stand-in, with a fatter face and different glasses. (00:33:45)

LorgSkyegon

More mistakes in Coming to America

Prince Akeem: Fascinating! Semmi, look at this! America is great indeed. Imagine a country so free, one can throw glass on the streets.

More quotes from Coming to America
Coming to America trivia picture

Trivia: The man who is getting a (fake) haircut as Akeem first enters the barber shop is played by a then-unknown Cuba Gooding Jr.

More trivia for Coming to America

Question: When Akeem tells the taxi to halt at the airport, there's something red on the hood. What is it? It looks like something to mount a camera on that was left on, but I'm not sure. Is it something taxi/NYC related?

Bishop73

Answer: That is the taxi medallion, a license for the driver to operate the yellow cab. All NYC yellow taxi cabs must have one of these metal plates (there are different types) affixed to the hood of their NYC yellow taxi. This particular type is the red apple medallion.

Super Grover

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