THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Comedy films have been a popular genre because of how extravagant it can get story wise. What people can forget is that it can be smarter than they appear. The best example of this goes to 1983’s Trading Places.
PLOT
The film takes place in New York during holiday season. The story follows two broker brothers, Mortimer and Randolph Duke who co own their own firm, decide to make a one dollar wager. The wager would be a social experiment that is switching the lives of people on opposite spectrums of social hierarchy. While Mortimer doesn’t think one of low class can quickly adapt, Randolph sees the opposite. They choose their own managing director Louis Winhorpe III to swap with poor street hustler Billy Ray Valentine, only after seeing a miscommunication between them. It begins when Clarence Beeks, a security officer on their payroll, frames Louis as a drug dealer and thief after implanting PCB and marked money in his pocket. This has him arrested and fired from his job. When bailed by his fiancé Penelope (Kristin Holby), it gets worse for him when Beeks has a prostitute named Ophelia accost him. He begs the prostitute for help, explaining that whoever paid her is ruining his life. He is denied entry from his home and when hoping to give her money, he discovers that all his bank account is frozen. Ophelia chooses to let him rest in her home as he now plans to get back on track. As this happens, the Dukes bail Billy out of prison and take him under their wings. Not only do they grant him Louis’ home but also employ him in his former position as managing director. Due to his street smart intelligence, he becomes well versed in the business and helps the Dukes earn a hefty amount of money on his first day at work. His attitude changes as well because he starts acting well mannered after settling in his new home. When Louis spots him in his car during a traffic jam, he draws conspiracy that he is running his life. At the annual Christmas Party of ‘Duke & Duke’, he tries to get him framed by implanting drugs in his office. He gets caught but is able to get away when pulling out a gun, which keeps everyone at a distance. When Billy uses the bathroom, he overhears the Dukes talk about the wager. Not only do they plan to send him back to the streets, they don’t plan to bring Louis back. He follows Louis himself all the way to Ophelia’s home. Winthorpe does attempt to take his own life by overdosing form the drugs he wanted to frame Billy with. Luckily, Ophelia nurses him back to health. The following morning, Valentine informs him that the Dukes are responsible for their predicament. Their butler Coleman confirms that it’s true. They later watch TV and discover that Beeks is transporting a secret report on orange crop forecasts. With Louis & Billy remembering his name since the Dukes had him on payroll, they intend to foil their plan that is cornering the market on frozen orange juice. Alongside Ophelia and Coleman, they follow him to a train hosting a costume party on New Year’s Eve. The plan is to swap the original report with a forgery that’ll predict low orange crop yields. Beeks does take notice as it happens and before he could get the drop on them all, he gets knocked unconscious by a caged gorilla. They would then dress him up as a gorilla and leave him in the same cage that’ll take the real gorilla to Africa. With the life savings of Ophelia and Coleman, the duo of Louis and Billy go to a trading floor in Wall Street where they would short sell juice futures contracts at the inflated price. This would cause the price of juice futures to plummet and both would buy from everyone except the Dukes. This is due to fulfilling the contract of they short sold earlier. With the plan to sell high and buy low, Louis and Billy get rich while the Dukes go bankrupt as they owe $394 million. Before the discovery of their assets being seized and holdings get frozen, they are told by the two they did wrong to that they made their own $1 wager that they would get rich at the same time they would get broke. While the Dukes plea for the floor to reopen to recoup their losses, the film ends as we see Billy & Louis enjoy a tropical vacation with Ophelia & Coleman.
THOUGHTS
I remember first checking this out in mid 2014, out of interest with everyone involved. When hearing about the plot, I had a hard time believing this would pay off. So it became a great surprise on how much I would enjoy it afterwards. Years later, my joy for it remains intact. Director John Landis gives his smartest film to date because it’s hard to find a comedy that can keep viewers interested in stocks. Yes we have shenanigans that ensue like any other film from the genre, but it felt more than that. This movie has a unique way of showing the best of both worlds in American society and I don’t think this would’ve been noticed had the two leading men not paid off with their great performances. SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy were a match made in heaven and arguably played their roles to perfection. Aykroyd was devastatingly good as Louis Winthorpe because he gives a great display of how greedy businessmen will never appreciate their lives until hitting rock bottom. Due to how he first treats Valentine, you feel like he shouldn’t be liked. But because he is unaware of the experiment he is part of, you can’t help but feel bad for him. I’ve loved Murphy for many roles and Billy Ray Valentine is no exception. He is great here because this feels like his most versatile before doing other films where he plays multiple roles. This feels so because it’s convincing on how he goes from street beggar to intelligent businessman. The opportunity he had was one in a million and he did his best to appreciate every second of it. He actually tries to be better than who he was by speaking more appropriately and end ties with people that posed as his friends. Seeing him use his street smart intelligence to earn a hefty amount of money on his first day at work comes to show that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to those people would likely look down on. And the fact that he would use his skills as a con artist to short sell with Louis to get the Dukes broke felt like such poetic justice. Even though both lead characters are what make this movie, they weren’t the only ones that made highlights. I enjoyed Jamie Lee Curtis more than I thought when it came to the role of Ophelia. She impressed me because she made her character much smarter and much business minded. She had a plan to retire from prostitution and had determination to make that goal come true. Because of that, she brought more warmth than the movie already had. She chose to help Louis out because she knew what it was like to hit rock bottom. So seeing them together at the end was nice to see. Denholm Elliot was funny as Coleman. He is someone who is in the middle of everything and rolls with the punches because he doesn’t want to lose his job. The face he makes whenever he had to ignore Louis always gets a chuckle out of me. Considering that he does tell the truth to his former boss comes to show how much of a heart he has. And seeing him with his new friends couldn’t be anymore satisfying to see. Paul Gleason may have not been the main villain as Beeks but he was on point being plain bad and that was good enough for me. Last but not least, Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy were both on point being spot on greedy megalomaniacs with their performances as the Dukes. The fact that these two were willing to ruin one’s life and take away another one’s opportunity of a second chance because of one dollar, of course you’ll hate them for eternity and both play it so well. The biggest laugh for me is when Mortimer ignores his brother having a heart attack. The audacity of saying “Fuck him” and desperation of him trying to get it all back just gets me every damn time because they reaped what they sewed. I give a lot of respect for this movie being ahead of its time but despite that, there were some problems I had with the story. First off, why don’t the Dukes raise the stakes with their bet by having a high amount of money on the line? They don’t think they’re gonna get caught, so I think it would be hilarious if they bet for about $1000 if they aren’t gonna bet millions. It was even dumber of them to leave Beeks’ checks in the workplace when that should be done at their homes if they want his payroll to be secret. It was also a gamble to take out Billy to dinner when he could’ve made a bad impression to the other businessmen. I know Louis wanted to have a costume as bizarre as everyone else’s, but why blackface? He should’ve asked Billy to buy him a mask. He was even dumber to wear a dirty Santa costume to infiltrate a Christmas party for wealthy businessmen. In that scenario, he should’ve asked Ophelia to buy him a clean one. I know a lot of characters in comedies can be dumb and it’s funny that Beeks get stuck with a caged gorilla, but those guys at the boat should’ve recognized that Beeks is wearing a costume and isn’t a real gorilla, especially since the document read that only one gorilla would be sent to Africa. And lastly, I was so annoyed that the doorman chased Billy because he saw the entire exchange between him and Louis was a misunderstanding and chose to make it appear as if it’s more than that. However, I still find myself enjoying this film for what it is once ignoring all said flaws. Overall, Trading Places is a comedy that is smarter than others would think. If you want to spice up your Christmas watchlist, this is the one for you.
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
留言