Trading Places (1983)
Some people may be too young to remember the days when Dan Aykroyd or Eddie Murphy could make a funny movie or even director John Landis for that matter. They say that comedy is all about timing, and here are three very funny comic talents, each at the top of their game, making one very funny farce. It also would bring Jamie Lee Curtis, previously a b-movie horror flick actress, into the mainstream — this movie would be just as famous for Jamie Lee baring her breasts as just about anything else one could associate with it. Toss in some cameos, in-jokes, and a fantastic comic pairing of old-time Hollywood stars, Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy, and you have Trading Places, one of the funniest films of the 80s.
Aykroyd plays upper-crust commodity broker, Louis Winthorpe III, a successful and wealthy member of trading corporation Duke & Duke. After a small squabble between them, his employers, the Dukes, decide to place a bet that is is one’s position in life that makes one a good person and another turn to crime. To properly test their theories, they frame Louis for theft and drug possession, which cost him his job, his home, and his girlfriend, and lands him in the streets. Meanwhile, they stick in street hustler and petty conman Billy Ray Valentine in Louis’ old place, with all the amenities that come with the job. Hilarity ensues.
It’s a fun spin on “The Prince and the Pauper”, with some social commentary regarding rich vs. poor, black vs. white, and whether the environment dictates behavior or genetics, although Landis does keep these debates mostly on a circumstantial level. Solid casting on every level of the production helps this one immensely, and even with a good script by the duo of Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod, the comedic actors do a fine job in ad-libbing some of the film’s funniest moments. Eddie does steal the show, but Aykroyd is gracious (and funny in his own right) as the straight man in this buddy comedy, and with a very likeable supporting cast, Trading Places is about as fun a two hours as one could want in a movie. It also showed Hollywood that Jamie Lee Curtis could do comedy, and quite well.
I realize that probably every Akyroyd or Murphy fan probably has seen this film a dozen times, and already own this in their collection, but for those who like well-made farces and haven’t seen it, it gets a very solid recommendation. A stupid movie is done in a smart (and funny) way.
Qwipster’s rating: A
MPAA Rated: R for language and nudity
Running Time: 118 min.
Cast: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Jamie Lee Curtis, Denholm Elliott, Paul Gleason, Kristin Holby, James Belushi, Al Franken, Bo Diddley, Frank Oz, Tom Davis, Giancarlo Esposito, Arleen Sorkin
Director: John Landis
Screenplay: Timothy Harris, Herschel Weingrod