Our Flick of the Week is Eddie Murphy`s surprisingly gentle and effective comedy ”Coming to America,” in which Murphy throws away his angry, smart-aleck persona in favor of a more genteel, soul-searching funny man.
As he proved so many times on ”Saturday Night Live,” Murphy is an actor as well as a comic, and he is equal to the transformation required by this script.
He plays an African prince who rebels against the wishes of his father
(James Earl Jones) to enter into a forced marriage, so he is allowed to spend 40 days in New York City to ”sow his wild oats” and then, presumably, he has to marry his father`s choice.
In America, along with his loyal servant Semmi (Arsenio Hall), Murphy has no intention of being a runabout. He is a seeker of truth and beauty and finds what he`s looking for in the body and soul of the daughter (Shari Headley) of a fast-food entrepreneur (John Amos). The running gag, of course, is that Murphy does not tell his would-be princess that he is of royal blood. Instead he adopts the pose of a poor African student to make sure that their love is true.
It`s a sweet, oft-told story, and Murphy and Hall add a number of very sharp supporting roles-hidden by makeup-to add spice to the general level of gentleness. ”Coming to America” is playing at the Broadway, Chestnut Station, Woods and outlying theaters. Rated R. (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) 1/2
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– COMING TO AMERICA (Broadway, Chestnut Station, Woods and outlying). This week`s Flick of the Week. See above. Rated R. (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) 1/2
– DA (Fine Arts). ”Da” is a solid adaptation of the popular, emotional Broadway play about a son making peace with his late father. Martin Sheen stars as the troubled son and Barnard Hughes replays his New York stage role as the domineering, ever-questioning Irish father figure. The film has Sheen encountering his father as an apparition after the old man`s death and the script is full of memories, visions, arguments and precious patches of serenity. ”Da” is not in the same class as a film as ”I Never Sang For My Father,” which starred Gene Hackman and Melvin Douglas, but it is an emotional experience nonetheless and not one cheaply derived. PG.