Word: semmy
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...that fun may be found in letting royalty rough it for a while below the poverty line. Besides, Eddie Murphy, the nation's top box-office star, is Akeem. And Arsenio Hall, who made waves and friends as host of Fox Broadcasting's The Late Show last year, is Semmi, a royal aide far more reluctant than His Highness to sample the delights of democratic living. So one tends to be rather patient with Coming to America. Surely the filmmakers ought to be able to make something...
...there is a plot to this movie. Murphy plays Akeem, surprisingly liberated prince of the tradition-bound fantasyland of Zamunda, who travels incognito with his friend Semmi (Hall) to look for an equally liberated bride in America (specifically, Queens, N.Y.). The plot provides for a familiar satirical set-up: naive, good-hearted alien exposes by juxtaposition the follies of American customs. The plot is about as predictable as an Orioles game; it exists only as a framework on which to hang the gags...
Fortunately, Akeem has Semmi as a foil. Hall's Semmi is a smarmy, false opportunist, but like Akeem, he's a caricature. Together, Akeem and Semmi are like adult versions of Wally Cleaver and Eddie Haskell. Their squabbles are amusing, but Hall and Murphy's cameos are funnier and more interesting than their primary roles...
...doubtful grammar of the last line may be explained by either the years of the writer, or the unsettled condition of the English language at the time when he wrote; but the allusion to the Semmi-Anualls is not so easily explained, for antiquarians disagree about the nature of the festival called by that name. The noted scholar A. Proctor, who has devoted much time to the study of this subject, makes the following statement...
...labor of the year was lightened somewhat by a season of festivity, occurring about the middle of the year, and lasting several days, called the Semmi-Anualls. The amusements, which were varied, remind one somewhat of a country fair of the present day. In the Bodleian is preserved a tattered and dingy pamphlet, in which the exercises are designated by mysterious combinations of letters and numerals, and are briefly described. After much study I have deciphered a part of it. As each student kept at least one horse, racing was one of the chief amusements, and the list of races...