365 Films A Year!

Here we see Eddie Murphy absolutely at the top of his game. He would never be this consistantly good again. Playing multiple roles as well as a dynamic and engaging lead, this one is all Murphy’s show. Arsenio Hall, best known as a talk show host, is along in support and does well with his own multiple characters. It makes one wonder what he could have done if he had pursued acting more diligently.

The story is standard romantic comedy fodder; rich Prince of a foreign land (Murphy) tries to escape an arranged marriage by going to America to find a woman he can truly love. Formulaic? Sure. Father who doesn’t understand his son? Check. Prospective father-in-law obsessed with his daughter marrying money? Check. Jerk boyfriend? Check. Mistaken identities? Check.

But none of that matters. Murphy holds it all together and his cast makes sure even the most cliched character feel legitimate. There’s even a sly callback to Murphy’s earlier Trading Places that always makes me chuckle. The only thing keeping this from being for absolutely everybody is a high level of nudity and some bad language. (One suspects they added that stuff to get an “R” that would have been expected of Murphy in those days. They add nothing.)

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 3:04 pm and is filed under 1988, Comedy, Romance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.