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)
Continuity mistake: When Darryl arrives at McDowell's the first time his driver's window is closed while he drives along the street and pulls in, but in the next shot the window is all the way down. There wasn't enough time between shots to lower the window completely. (00:47:55)
Continuity mistake: When Akeem and Semmi get their apartment, the landlord says that the room has only one window facing a brick wall. But when Akeem is out on the fire escape, he yells out to a street, not a wall. And there are two windows.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Semmi and Akeem are cleaning the soap from the window of McDowells the amount of soap on the window constantly changes from less to more and back to less again. (Look at the very top of the window pane).
Continuity mistake: In the subway, Lisa throws the earrings downwards. Cut to the next angle where they appear at Akeem's waist level and, oddly enough, flying up to his right hand, raised at chest level. This would only be possible if someone had tossed the earrings at ground level.
Continuity mistake: In the scene towards the end of the movie you can see the dog sitting by the piano. At that time the keys are revealed. A few seconds later the keys are closed.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Akeem and Lisa are walking at night, and you can see the New York City skyline in the background. They visibly pass a certain area and the camera changes views, then goes back to Akeem and Lisa walking. They walk past the exact same spot as the previous shot.
Continuity mistake: Akeem stops a cab at the airport and a black car followed by a red wagoneer pass by. When Eddie approaches the driver, the same cars are passing by again.
Continuity mistake: When Akeem is about to be wed at the beginning of the movie, his bride-to-be is walking toward him on a rug. She is almost to the end of it, then the camera comes back to her and she is at the beginning of the rug again.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Akeem just left after realizing his parents arrived, Mr. McDowell pulls a bill out of his pocket with Akeem's face on it. It is wrinkled when he pulls it out, but when Lisa looks at it it is a brand new bill.
Continuity mistake: When Lisa and Akeem are driving away in the carriage after the wedding, the background and people don't move even though the carriage supposedly is.
Continuity mistake: When Akeem's parents enter the McDowell's house with the courtiers (the young ladies) they all wear gloves (it's winter time). Briefly, one of them can be seen not wearing gloves.
Visible crew/equipment: You can see bits of the camera crew reflecting on the carriages, when the metro-train leaves the station after Akeem has gotten out after Lisa refused to marry him (near the end of the film).
Continuity mistake: When Akeem's cab arrives to Queens, a woman has passed by the barber shop and is walking away. In the next shot she is in front of the barber shop repeating the previous movements.
Continuity mistake: When Akeem and Semmi are training, before Semmi says, "Don't you want a wife with huge breasts like melons?" he is standing in the center of the gym. In the close-up he is half a meter next to the wall, close to the guards.
Continuity mistake: During Akeem's wedding, when the dancers kneel down, the guests behind are either several meters away, leaving a large gap in between both groups, or inches away from the dancers, depending on the shot.
Continuity mistake: When Lisa moves to a different train carriage near the end, she opens two doors. She tries to slam the second door as Akeem is following her, but it bounces back and remains completely open. In the next shot, however, the door is completely closed, forcing Akeem to open it.
Continuity mistake: At the end when they are leaving the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, people are dropping rose petals by the limo, but when the limo and the line of cars pulls away from the curb, there is not one rose petal in sight.
Continuity mistake: When Akeem arrives to his room, there's rubbish next to the dead man silhouette on the floor. In the next shot it's gone.
Revealing mistake: When in the barber shop, the elderly Jew (played by Eddie Murphy) is shown in one shot. Then when the camera changes positions, he is shown again in the background. It is an obvious double, and doesn't look anything like Murphy did in the earlier shot.
Answer: How would Akeem's parents know what they were up to? They think he's taking an American vacation, and in the pre social media days, it was hard to keep track of people. As for McDowell, what sort of background check did you expect him to do on a fast food employee in the 80s? McDowell seems like a guy who would cut corners anyway.
Brian Katcher
There aren't exactly a lot of people lining up to work at McDowell's, so Cleo gives the applications a once over and hires them on the spot. I'm in my 40's and I've had plenty of jobs that didn't even call my references, let alone perform a background check.