Trading Places (1983) ***1/2

Up until this year I hadn't seen either Spies Like Us (1985) (my review here) or Trading Places (1983). There's still a few more John Landis films I haven't seen but I've got all the "classics" covered now (well, actually I still haven't seen Coming To America (1988) or ¡Three Amigos! (1986) in its entirety so maybe that's debatable?).

Trading Places is very good and very funny overall, thanks to two great comic performances (Aykroyd and Murphy) and strong supporting roles by the likes of Ralph Bellamy, Don AmecheDenholm Elliott, and, in particular, Jamie Lee Curtis. Some of the humor is dated, but a lot of the film still remains relevant, if a bit on the nose at times. It didn't strike me as particularly quotable, but then again I didn't grow up with it. I'm glad I finally saw the film and I'm sure I'll enjoy future viewings.

You can find my John Landis Feature Films Ranked list here.

Comments