TRADING PLACES (1983)
Director: John Landis
Paramount Pictures

Personally, I never get excited when I see a poster or a trailer for a new Eddie Murphy film these days. There was a time back in the day when he was kicking serious ass on the big screen in films like Coming To America, The Golden Child, Beverly Hills Cop and many others, but his continuation into the '90s grew tiring with movies like Boomerang, Vampire In Brooklyn and Beverly Hills Cop III.

If you feel the same way about ol’ Eddie, fear not friends because thanks to the modern convenience of DVD/VHS we can travel back in time to a point in his career when he didn’t suck.

In Trading Places, Eddie plays Billy Ray Valentine, a down and out street hustler who has an unfortunate run-in with Wall Street upstart Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd). From their initial incident, which results in Billy Ray getting arrested, two extremely wealthy brothers who witness the event decide to play God with Billy and Louis.

The two power players quickly get the wheels turning and in doing so thrust their unknowing guinea pigs into a straight role-reversal - a homeless bum becomes a top executive and a pampered academic gets framed for drug dealing, theft and prostitution. With the tables now turned, Billy Ray is living la vida loca, whilst Louis trawls the streets in dumpstered clothes and mooches off a sexy hooker called Ophelia (Jamie lee Curtis).

Hilarious for the bizarre situation it presents and comically frank in regards to what lengths people will go to for money, power and social status, Trading Places is not only a stand-out Eddie Murphy flick, it’s also the perfect antidote for getting through the working week.   

- Review by Jordan Bloomer

Here's the trailer: