Trading Places

For all of its qualities, 1983's TRADING PLACES might work best as a basic primer on the U.S. Stock Market for the average viewer.  No kidding.  Amidst its humor -which runs the gamut from dryly witty to downright silly - the movie is surprisingly educational, taking time to explain how commodities are traded and how the market functions. We are not bogged down in jargon, and explanations are brief enough to never become dry.  While a randy gorilla does figure prominently in the plot, the finale involves an elaborate scam to corner the frozen orange juice market..  This does not sound like the makings of a smash hit studio comedy.  But, you know, Eddie Murphy.

This was his second feature, and he's so assured and energetic that it's not hard to see why his, hmph, portfolio rose so quickly in Hollywood.  After his highly impressive debut in 48 Hrs., Murphy easily shifted gears into a more genteel sort of comedy, somewhat of a throwback to the days of sophisticated social farces but also Three Stooges routines.  The Saturday Night Live alumnus plays a street hustler named Billy Ray Valentine who accidentally bumps into a stuffy broker/manager named Louis Winthorpe III on a Philadelphia street and sets into motion a tale of switched lives.  Billy Ray assumes the pampered life and Louis is out in the streets.  Engineering this are the elderly Randolph and Mortimer Duke (Ralph Bellamy and Don Amache), owners of the brokerage house in which Winthorpe works.

To them, it's an experiment, a game.  They argue over nature versus nurture.  Will the streetwise Valentine adapt to his plush, encouraging environment and emerge as a Wall Street hotshot, or will he revert to his thieving, conniving ways of old? You could make the argument that Burberry clad stockbrokers are not much different, that they are merely hustlers in wingtips, but....And how about Winthorpe, he of Ivy League breeding and all the "right" friends?  Will he retain his integrity and morality within a filthy environment of flophouses, prostitution, and drugs?

Director John Landis does some nice work in TRADING PLACES.  I disagree with the critic who felt that he "crudely slammed the story forward".  What is most noticeable is his sense of timing.  And for once, he does not engineer over the top gagery.  There is a nice balance of the high and lowbrow.  The director also coaxes solid performances.  Aykroyd has one of his best roles here and carries it off beautifully.  His stuffed shirt persona is absolutely perfect, never spoofy or caricatured.  Landis always did well satirizing upper crust society, with moments in ANIMAL HOUSE and THE BLUES BROTHERS nicely prefacing this story, which was written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod.  The supporting players, including Denholm Elliott and Jamie Lee Curtis, are equally good.  The former has numerous amusing reaction shots.  Certain scenes with Curtis have become legend among horny male viewers.

TRADING PLACES cemented Murphy's fame at the multiplex, and can also be enjoyed as a modern day Christmas classic of sorts.  And how many movies feature a lead actor who inspired a namesake section of the Wall Street Transperancy and Accountability Act?

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