Two millionaire brothers make a
bet for one dollar. The bet is if they reverse the positions of a street con
artist and their trusted snobbish Wall Street investor, will the two men still
be the same or do their surroundings define them. The two brothers carry out
their bet, throwing Louis Winthorpe III into the streets, destitute, and giving
everything to Billy Ray Valentine.
The film is directed by John Landis, who
was maybe the best comedy director of the late 1970s and early 1980s (with
films such as The
Kentucky Friend Movie, Animal House,
The Blues
Brothers, An
American Werewolf in London, Spies Like Us,
Three Amigos,
and Coming
to America; he also directed Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video).
Landis worked with great composer Elmer Bernstein,
cinematographer Robert
Paynter, and production designer Gene Rudolf.
The film stars Eddie Murphy
(in his prime, with films like 48 Hrs. and
Beverly
Hills Cop), Dan
Aykroyd, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
There is also good supporting work from Denholm Elliott,
Ralph Bellamy,
and Don
Ameche (plus a bunch of cameos, like Frank Oz and
James Belushi).
Trading Places is one of the
great comedies of the 1980s. It is hilarious and Murphy and Aykroyd are on the
top of their game. Trading Places was very successful critically and
commercially, inadvertently launching a ton of sort of similar body swap
comedies: Like
Father Like Son, Vice
Versa, 18
Again!, Prelude
to a Kiss, and the remake of Freaky Friday (the
first remake) – among others. Okay, so maybe there is no direct correlation
between Trading Places and this string of terrible, terrible body swap movies,
but it is always fun to go down memory lane. Anyway, Trading Places is one of
the decade’s best comedies but also has some interesting social comments.
First, the film seems to take a firm stand against the Wall Street greed that
ruled the times, portraying all the ‘rich’ characters as being awful, snobbish
people who could not care less about the common man. And second, the bet is a
fun play on the nature versus nurture argument, seemingly siding with nurture.
Trading Places is a must-see for comedy fans and those looking to see the best
films of Murphy and Aykroyd.
Trailer: Here
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