Yesteryears' American Idol

I had hunted high and low for ‘Coming to America’, an Eddie Murphy starrer, on youtube but couldn’t put my finger on it. But some blessed soul decided to upload the movie recently, and I was treated to the most delightful time of my life yet another time. It’s a 80s movie, that had drama, romance and one action scene (If one may call whacking a robber with a cleaning stick, any action). A few parts of this movie, were actually plagiarized by our reputed Bollywood directors. But knowing the Bollywood directors, you can’t expect much either.

 

So, what makes ‘Coming to America’ interesting?! Hmm…the heroine was pretty! Of course, which heroine isn’t?  But this one was different in a way because a similar looking girl had a huge crush on me when I was in my teens. She made it quite obvious of this thing on many an occasion. For my own safety, I acted as if I haven’t noticed it, the girl got disappointed; must have thought I was deaf, dumb and mental and went away to a world where humans behaved like humans. The girl wasn’t bad either. But that was long ago. The film actually made me almost recollect the incident and I got lost in the labyrinth of ‘reminiscing of love’ for some time.

The movie stands a tad different because it stars our own Eddie Murphy, who wouldn’t hesitate a second to show off his pearly whites. That apart, he looks so young and dashing. The movie’s plot too was fresh as a rose. I could unravel the mystery of the movie in a jiffy but it wouldn’t be as good as watching it. So, I’ll spare you the trouble.

However, there’s this particularly lovable scene where the now famous actor Samuel Jackson walks in to rob the cash register. And presto! Armed with the most potent weapon any man could ever design – cleaning broom – our hero threatens the robber who’s actually holding a double barrel gun. And warns the robber in an impeccable English ‘Please refrain from using any obscenities in front of these people’ and further suggests, ‘I would be forced to thrash you’. Stupid guts.

Anyways, I am not going to break the suspense, if I hadn’t actually done it. But that’s some food for thought. Eddie Murphy knows how to turn a boring, drab, staid role into an appealing, beautiful and energetic one. The magician of the silver screen actually knows how to hold his audience under his spell.  So, don’t just stand hypnotized. Go watch his other movies that are equally arresting!