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Coming to America
Coming to America
Coming to America
Coming to America
Coming to America
Film credit
Shari Headley
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- Episodes featuring their films
- 1
- Movies in this archive
- 1
Rewatchables episodes featuring their films
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Mentioned in discussions
Apex Mountain
Shari Headley; Allison Dean; Clint Smith; Jheri curls in film
In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 01:30:43Read transcript
- Eddie Murphy is not at Apex here.
- Arsenio Hall is proposed as at Apex, but the objection is that the Arsenio Hall Show is his apex, with 1989 preferred.
- James Earl Jones's apex is debated: this film and Field of Dreams, the 70s, the voice of Darth Vader, the Yellow Pages ads, possibly no apex, or Sandlot as a belated apex.
- Best of the Best is jokingly named as an apex and a future Rewatchables pick.
- Shari Headley and the other sister are "definitely Apex for both".
- St. John's is no, because the 1985 team with Chris Mullin, Walter Berry and Mark Jackson was better.
- Clint Smith is a yes.
- Hot tubs are raised; the Coming to America hot tub is admired, but others point to Julia Roberts and Eddie's James Brown sketch.
- For Jheri curls, Soul Glo is both the nadir and the apex, at least in film.
- Queens isn't treated well enough to be at Apex, and classy New York hotels peak with Home Alone.
- Barbershop conversations were copied for 33 years, but the movie Barbershop is judged the apex for barbershops.
- The category should be specific to Black barbershops because Mississippi Burning has a barbershop scene the same year. — Wesley Morris
- It's got to be Barbershop.
Recasting Couch
No recast; Shari Headley kept
In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:49Read transcript
- The movie is well cast, but Robin Givens and Angela Bassett are floated as alternatives to Shari Headley.
- Bassett was 28 during filming, raising whether a white casting agent in 1987 would know to find her; she had done a lot of TV.
- Either one in 1988 is claimed to make a better movie.
- The objection: Robin Givens must be saved for Boomerang.
- The exchange ends with "I buy Sherry Headley in this" and agreement; the proposer only wanted to have the conversation.
Casting What-Ifs
Vanessa Williams as Lisa McDowell; Sidney Poitier as King Jaffe Joffer; Paul Gleason as Clarence Beeks
In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:54Read transcript
- Vanessa Williams was originally considered for Lisa McDowell; her first album came out that year and she was staggeringly beautiful.
- The most desired woman is the lightest-skinned woman in the movie, an eternal problem; casting Williams would make that scream louder.
- Shari Headley sounds like she is from New York, and her sweetness makes her falling for a janitor believable.
- Sidney Poitier was originally sought for King Jaffe Joffer and turned it down, doing Shoot to Kill instead; he would have pushed the movie up a level, though James Earl Jones is regal.
- Paul Gleason was asked to reprise Clarence Beeks from Trading Places in the Duke brothers scene but was filming Die Hard.
What’s Aged the Worst?
117-minute runtime; John Amos's once-major presence; Darryl bragging about St. John's tickets; the name Semmi; John Landis's next films; missing hit soundtrack
In the discussion (15)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:47Read transcript
- At 117 minutes it is too long; about 105 would be ideal, cutting the first 20 minutes to get to New York.
- John Amos being in the movie was a big deal in 1988 that is hard to explain 33 years later, like other TV dads such as Robert Reed.
- Darryl being excited and bragging about four tickets to a St. John's game has aged poorly.
- Arsenio's character is named Semmi, like a Celtic (ASR "shemiochile") blamed for the team being 13-13 as they tape.
- Soul Glo hurt Eric LaSalle's career until ER; a counterpoint says he made good there, and Shari Headley didn't get enough work afterward.
- LaSalle is outrageously handsome even under the curl, unlike Eddie, whose stardom never relied on looks.
- The bearded O.J. Simpson in Buffalo around 1975 as the most handsome man who ever lived is reaffirmed.
- John Landis's next films after this: Oscar, Innocent Blood and Beverly Hills Cop 3, which is called terrible.
- Beverly Hills Cop 3 was the first movie one participant ever walked out of.
- Eddie doing a third Beverly Hills Cop felt sad; it became almost a Disney film.
- Rewatching Cop 3 on cable confirmed it was bad; after it Landis made The Stupids, Blues Brothers 2000 and Susan's Plan.
- The System's end-credits theme song is called aged worst; others object, calling it a jam played on BET.
- The song wasn't a hit because it wasn't that good. — Bill Simmons
- The soundtrack is a missed opportunity: the only song heard in full is The Greatest Love of All, with no Janet Jackson or Paula Abdul, while other movies had big soundtracks like the Pointer Sisters.
- Nile Rodgers did the music and Michael Jackson, his friend, is nowhere on it; "It's a miss."
What’s Aged the Best?
Mortimer and Randolph crossover; barbershop Joe Louis bit; Darryl and Soul Glo; "The royal penis is clean"; McDowell's versus McDonald's; Louie Anderson's cameo; Eddie's Jewish comedian makeup; engagement-announcement trope; the women in the cast; the Waldorf Astoria; Queens and New York as themselves
In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:14Read transcript
- Mortimer and Randolph crossing over is mentioned again, along with the barbershop bit about Joe Louis's age and Frank Sinatra saying he was 137.
- A barbershop take starts with Kobe being better than Jordan and escalates; the lines are sneaky funny and well written.
- As personal trauma, avoiding barbershops where the average age is 75 after bad shape-ups.
- Darryl and Soul Glo helped end the Jheri curl, making it mainstream to mock; West Coast rap briefly kept curls and N.W.A was the last gasp.
- The Soul Glo commercial is a tour de force that feels like real TV, one of the funniest, most devastating Black culture jokes.
- "The royal penis is clean, your highness" always kills.
- John Amos explaining the difference between McDowell's and McDonald's is enjoyed.
- Louie Anderson's McDowell's monologue gained a second life through Kanye West's Gold Digger.
- It was reportedly Landis's idea for Eddie to play the Jewish comedian, and visiting Paramount executives didn't recognize him in the makeup.
- The 80s-90s trope of a father announcing his daughter's engagement to an annoying boyfriend without her knowing is a favorite gimmick.
- Every Black woman in the movie has aged well, including Vanessa Bell Calloway, Garcelle Beauvais, Shari Headley and Madge Sinclair.
- Jody Watley's sister, who went by Midori, plays one of the rose bearers.
- The Waldorf Astoria became the benchmark for an amazing hotel; the Plaza plays that role through Home Alone.
- Queens and New York look like themselves, without the snow plowed for the king's arrival.
Displaying all 5 discussions
