Goofs for
Coming to America (1988) More at IMDbPro »

• Continuity: The position of the microphone lying on the stage after Randy Watson drops it.
  
  
• Continuity: During a scene in the McDowell home, the dog is sitting on the piano stool. Throughout the scene, the piano lid changes between being open and shut.
  
  
• Continuity: When Lisa throws the earrings back at Akeem, she throws them overhand in a downward direction, too low for Akeem to have caught them without bending down. When we see a shot of Akeem, he catches the earrings at his waist level, and the earrings are seen tossed upward as if underhand.
  
  

• Continuity: In the burger bar, the King's Aide throws the money on the counter and Mr. McDowell picks the note up to examine it. In the next shot, the note can still be seen on the counter and as the shot ends, a hand starts to reach for it (it appears that the order of the shots was reversed).
  
  
• Continuity: When Lisa gets off the subway after Akeem confronts her, the station is virtually empty. When the subway speeds away, a large group of people, most likely a crowd watching filming take place, can be seen reflected in the windows.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Akeem gives Randolf and Mortimer Duke a wad of cash he claims as "pocket change", assumed by the audience to be all $100 bills, there are actually $1 bills between the $100s.
  
  
• Continuity: When Oha pays Cleo "for his trouble", the bill is crumpled when it is put on the counter. When Cleo picks it up for the close up, the bill is crisp and flat. This happens again when Cleo pulls the bill from his pocket to show to Lisa.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Akeem goes to get his ponytail cut, the stand-in for the old Jewish man is visible in the mirror.
  
  
• Continuity: As Lisa enters the subway station just before Akeem confronts her, she has been walking in the pouring rain and her coat is soaked. Moments later as she speaks with Akeem, her coat is almost completely dry. Akeem's clothes show no signs of wetness at all, despite running from the car to the subway station in heavy rain.
  
  
• Continuity: At one point, Mr. McDowell takes a milkshake off of a tray that is about to be served to a customer and gives it to Darryl, saying that it's strawberry. Later, when Darryl throws it at Akeem, the liquid is a greenish blue color.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the landlord describes the apartment to Akeem and Semi, he says "it's only got one window, facing a brick wall." In the next scene, Akeem is out on a balcony which is accessed through a window. In the same shot, Semi opens another window directly to Akeem's left to speak with him. There is also another window directly to Akeem's right which appears to be from the same apartment.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Akeem is introduced to the "Princess of Finland", who speaks Swedish. Finland is not a kingdom, but Sweden is, and it currently has two princesses. It's possible that the person making the introduction was mistaken.
  
  
• Continuity: When the landlord shows the apartment, there are two windows side by side and a third facing the bed (you know this because there is sun light above) suggesting that part of the apartment sticks out. In the next scene, when Akeem is on the balcony, the windows are spaced about two feet apart, and the third window previously mentioned couldn't exist since the building is flush, which you can see when Akeem yells "Good morning my neighbors!"
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When Akeem wakes up and his servant claps his hands to open the bathroom door, a crew member can be seen inside the bathroom, in the crack between the door and the frame.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: The royal orchestra playing the "wake up alarm" doesn't match the soundtrack.
  
  
• Continuity: When Akeem and Semmi are working out (stick fighting) and Semmi knocks Akeem's stick out of his hands, it never hits the floor. In the next wide shot, it disappears.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At the "Black Awareness Rally," Cleo whispers, "Plug the new salad bar!" The next scene includes a walk-through of McDowell's, with no salad bar.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: In virtually every shot with Arsenio Hall's barber shop character, his wide glasses reflect the large light reflection screens used in the shot.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene where Akeem and Semi are polishing the windows, the "cleaned" area is different in size in internal and external shots.
  
  
• Continuity: When Semmi picks up the Hold-Up Man's shotgun, he cocks it and points it at him. Since the robber fired a shot into the ceiling moments before, the shotgun should have ejected a spent shell, but it didn't.
  
  
• Continuity: The menu inside the McDowell's restaurant is actually a Wendy's menu.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When Akeem and Semi arrive in America, Akeem has obviously never heard a certain four-letter "F" word given that he says "What does dumb fuck mean?" in the cab ride and also shouts "Fuck you, too!" gleefully to his neighbors from his apartment fire escape. Yet, when the criminal (Samuel L. Jackson) attempts to hold up McDowell's and uses the same foul language, Akeem tells him to watch his language. However, Akeem could (and most likely would) have figured out the real meaning of the "F" word while he was staying in America.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In a scene where Mr. McDowell is in his office, he picks up the company manual and it says "McDonald's." The restaurant is called McDowell's, a parody of McDonald's, but the manual actually says McDonald's on it. However, that is actually the joke - since McDowell's has deliberately copied every aspect of McDonald's (as evidenced by the guy taking pictures of the restaurant earlier in the film), it would not be surprising that Mr. McDowell would have a copy of the manual.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene where Cleo McDowell is telling Lisa Akeem has his own money, the bill is wrinkled as he pulls it out of his pocket, but when Lisa stares at the bill it is completely straight. When she hands it back to her father the bill is wrinkled again.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the robber enters McDowells, he walks through the door, pulls the shotgun out from underneath his overcoat, and shoots into the ceiling. Unfortunately, the debris from the ceiling begins to fall slightly ahead of the shot being fired.
  
  
• Continuity: When Akeem and Lisa were walking through the park at night, just after they walked under a bridge, you could seen the twin towers in the background. Then they came upon the Duke brothers sleeping in the rubble. Akeem gave them the wad of money, then he and Lisa started walking again. They immediately walked under the SAME BRIDGE again, and there you could see the twin towers in the background again. Somehow the Duke brothers moved without moving!
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In the scene where the holdup man (Samuel L Jackson) attempts to rob the McDowell's restaurant, it's visible his shotgun has no ejection port.
  
  
• Errors in geography: At the end of the movie when the entourage of cars is leaving New York, the cars are on the right lane coming towards the camera but the 35mph sign is also on the right lane but facing the camera.
  
  
• Continuity: When Lisa and Akeem board the Subway at the Queens Blvd station, the subway they get on has the number 4032 on the side, however when the same subway stops at the Sutphin Blvd station (just before Lisa gets off leaving Akeem behind), it has the number 3972 on the side.
  
  

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