Passes the Bechdel test
Coming to America
1988. Directed by John Landis, written by Eddie Murphy and David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
25 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 60. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Immersed in luxury and riches, courteous Prince Akeem, the refined heir apparent to Africa's prosperous kingdom of Zamunda, summons up the courage to reject an arranged marriage proposal on his 21st birthday. As a result, bent on finding true love, the young blueblood heads to the strange urban jungle of New York City's Queens. To mask his regal descent, Akeem and his trusted valet Semmi must post as humble exchange students, doing their best to mingle with their neighbors. But more than anything in the world, the noble bachelor yearns to be loved for who he is and not for his title. Is Prince Akeem destined to find his soulmate in America's bustling Big Apple?
- Released
- 29 Jun 1988
- Genres
- Comedy, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 47 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 5 wins & 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Akeem 225 lines, man
- Lisa 143 lines, woman
- Mr. Mcdowell 103 lines, man
- Semmi 73 lines, man
- King 62 lines, man
- Clarence 31 lines, man
- Landlord 24 lines, man
- Darryl 21 lines, man
- Queen 21 lines, woman
- Patrice 18 lines, woman
Full cast, 82 people
- Eddie Murphy as Prince Akeem / Clarence / Randy Watson / Saul
- Shari Headley as Lisa McDowell
- Arsenio Hall as Semmi / Extremely Ugly Girl / Morris / Reverend Brown
- James Earl Jones as King Jaffe Joffer
- Eriq La Salle as Darryl Jenks
- John Amos as Cleo McDowell
- Allison Dean as Patrice McDowell
- Madge Sinclair as Queen Aoleon
- Samuel L. Jackson as Hold-Up Man
- Cuba Gooding Jr. as Boy Getting Haircut
- Vanessa Bell Calloway as Imani Izzi
- Calvin Lockhart as Colonel Izzi
- Frankie Faison as Landlord
- Louie Anderson as Maurice
- Paul Bates as Oha
- Vondie Curtis-Hall as Basketball Game Vendor
- Garcelle Beauvais as Rose Bearer #3
- Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Street Hustler
- Victoria Dillard as Bather / Dancer
- Clyde Jones as Soul Glo Man
- Jim Abrahams as Face on Cutting Room Floor
- Midori as Bather
- Feather as Rose Bearer #1
- Stephanie Simon as Rose Bearer #2
- Birdie M. Hale as Elderly Passenger
- Felicia Taylor as Bather
- Sheila Johnson as Lady-in-Waiting
- Jake Steinfeld as Cab Driver
- Clint Smith as Sweets
- Uncle Ray Murphy as Stu
- Paulette Banoza as Soul Glo Woman
- Patricia Matthews as Devil Woman
- Mary Bond Davis as Big Stank Woman
- Carla Earle as Tough Girl
- Karen Owens as Ex-Siamese Twin / Dancer
- Sharon Owens as Ex-Siamese Twin / Dancer
- Lisa Gumora as Kinky Girl
- June Boykins as Strange Woman
- Janette Colon as Fresh Peaches
- Vanessa Colon as Sugar Cube
- Monique Mannen as Boring Girl / Dancer
- Mindora Mimms as Awareness Woman
- Cynthia Finkley as Awareness Woman
- David Sosna as Cartier Delivery Man
- Arthur Adams as Mr. Jenks
- Loni Kaye Harkless as Mrs. Jenks
- Montrose Hagins as Grandma Jenks
- Tonja Rivers as Party Guest
- Ralph Bellamy as Randolph Duke / Homeless Man #1 (uncredited)
- Don Ameche as Mortimer Duke / Homeless Man #2 (uncredited)
- Karl Denson as 'Sexual Chocolate' Saxophonist (uncredited)
- Elaine Kagan as Telegraph Lady (uncredited)
- Michael Tadross as Taxi Driver (uncredited)
- Steve White as Subway Guy (uncredited)
- Helen Hanft as Subway Lady (uncredited)
- Leah Aldridge as Dancer (uncredited)
- Aurorah Allain as Dancer (uncredited)
- Paula Brown as Dancer (uncredited)
- Dwayne Chattman as Dancer (uncredited)
- Stephanie Clark as Dancer (uncredited)
- Robin L. Dimension as Dancer (uncredited)
- Shaun Earl as Dancer (uncredited)
- Eric L. Ellis as Dancer (uncredited)
- Sharon Ferrol-Young as Dancer (uncredited)
- Eric D. Henderson as Dancer (uncredited)
- Gigi Hunter as Dancer (uncredited)
- Debra Johnson as Dancer (uncredited)
- Tanya Lynne Lee as Dancer (uncredited)
- Jimmy Locust as Dancer (uncredited)
- Donna M. Perkins as Dancer (uncredited)
- Dionne Rockhold as Dancer (uncredited)
- Gina Consuela Rose as Dancer (uncredited)
- Randolph Scott as Dancer (uncredited)
- Robbin Tasha-Ford as Dancer (uncredited)
- Jerald Vincent as Dancer (uncredited)
- Eyan Williams as Dancer (uncredited)
- Roy Milton Davis as Homeless Man Around Garbage Can Bonfire (uncredited)
- Dorian DeMichele as Viola (uncredited)
- Alison Gordy as Blond Hooker / Bag Lady in Fast Food Place (uncredited)
- Mary Young as Stuck-Up Girl (uncredited)
- Tobe Hooper as Party Guest (uncredited)
- Raymond D. Turner as T-Shirt Hawker
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 60
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 8 | 32 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 12 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 to 10 | 2 | 6 |
| 11 to 12 | 6 | 40 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 3 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 5 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 39 |
| 19 to 20 | 7 | 21 |
| 21 to 22 | 4 | 26 |
| 23 to 24 | 4 | 2 |
| 25 to 26 | 13 | 35 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 33 |
| 29 to 30 | 13 | 3 |
| 31 to 32 | 13 | 24 |
| 33 to 34 | 8 | 26 |
| 35 to 36 | 8 | 16 |
| 37 to 38 | 17 | 26 |
| 39 to 40 | 8 | 22 |
| 41 to 42 | 24 | 31 |
| 43 to 44 | 7 | 24 |
| 45 to 46 | 1 | 24 |
| 47 to 48 | 11 | 26 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 19 |
| 51 to 52 | 15 | 40 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 7 |
| 55 to 56 | 4 | 13 |
| 57 to 58 | 16 | 31 |
| 59 to 60 | 13 | 12 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
PATRICE: Whoa! You think they're real? LISA: They couldn't be. Lisa opens the card. She is puzzled but pleased.
PATRICE: Hi. LISA: AJceem, this is my sister Patrice. You know, AJceem's from Africa. PATRICE: What you doing in New York?
IMANI: Ask me nicely. I do not have to take orders from you. LISA: Would you really have given all this up for me?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 25 are women's.
202 lines from women, 601 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
25 women and 28 men in the cast. 5 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 867.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 116 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 22% of the words (2,036), men 78% (7,073). Women have 25% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
7
Two men
32
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Landis (man)
- Written by
- David Sheffield (man), Barry W. Blaustein (man)
- Story by
- Eddie Murphy (man)
- Produced by
- George Folsey Jr. (man), Robert D. Wachs (man)
- Shot by
- Woody Omens (man), Sol Negrin (man)
- Edited by
- Malcolm Campbell (man), George Folsey Jr. (man)
- Music by
- Nile Rodgers (man)
- Production design by
- Richard Macdonald (man)
- Costumes by
- Deborah Nadoolman Landis (woman)
- Cast by
- Jackie Burch (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
5 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 9 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 5 men, 7 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 7 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 4 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 36 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Shari Headley 23, Allison Dean 23, Madge Sinclair 50
Men
Cuba Gooding Jr. 20, Eriq La Salle 25, Eddie Murphy 27, Arsenio Hall 33, Samuel L. Jackson 39, John Amos 48, James Earl Jones 57
Exhibit H: the money
It made 9.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $30 million
- Box office
- $289 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 60 scenes and 867 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
