Trading Places

I am not really a fan of Eddie Murphy, but with the help of Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche doing their own version of a more manipulative pairing akin to "Stadler and Waldorf", he delivers well here in this rather punchy comedy. Our two elderly gents are wealthy and employ "Winthorpe" (Dan Akyroyd) to run their business empire for them. He does well for them, makes them a fortune and himself lives the life of a millionaire in a mansion where he is pampered by butler "Coleman" (Denholm Elliott). Meantime, street-wise "Valentine" (Murphy) is constantly on the make and during an altercation with "Winthorpe" during which he is arrested, the two old buzzards come up with a wheeze to see if the think-on-your-feet merchant could do a better job than their incumbent. A bit of sleight of hand now sees the epitome of a reversal of fortune as "Valentine" unwittingly assumes the job of managing their business whilst his ill-equipped predecessor finds himself driven to some increasingly slapstick desperation. It's only when "Valentine" overhears the conspiring old goats reveal their true purpose that he decides that it's time for some more permanent reversal of fortune - only this time, well it's all about oranges and pork bellies. Murphy is on good form here, but for me it's Akyroyd - and his unlikely ally "Ophelia" (Jamie Lee Curtis) who steal the show as the writing delivers quite a few laugh out moments as well as swiping at some fairly odious attitudes of snobbery, bigotry and racism. Though he doesn't feature so much, Elliott also fares well as the butler - very much in the vein of Sir John Gielgud, and as the story gathers pace it becomes an entertaining character study of worms that turn, and turn again all set to a classy mix of old and new from the soundtrack.

Is it offensive? Very much. Is it worth watching? Absolutely. Is it funny as hell? Hell yeah! This classic OUTRAGEOUS comedy caper is the perfect holiday film to watch in between Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Seen this one numerous times over the years, not quite a laugh-out-loud riot or anything but still pretty funny throughout with great performances all around. Although their screen time together was mostly limited to the last 30-minutes, Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy were great as were Denholm Elliott and Jamie Lee Curtis (hot as hell). Also appreciate Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche as the pompous and terrible villains. **4.0/5**