The lesson here: if you're going to bribe someone, don't leave a paper trail. And if you're going to receive a bribe, don't have the checks written out to your real name. Also: only cast young Eddie Murphy in your comedy if you want to make a really good one that will stand the test of time as one of the defining movies of its decade.

I knew there were two VERY good reasons why I like Trading Places.

Great John Landis film! The on screen dynamics between Aykroyd and Murphy are wonderful. Very well done and a movie I never seem to get tired of.

Certainly the best "sodomized by a gorilla" scene I've seen in a movie so far.

Accomplishes the miracle of remaining great despite a horrendous third-act gorilla rape joke.

Gives invention
to the phrase
"gorilla ex machina".

So, I’m very hit or miss with comedies. And this one fell in the miss category. While I enjoyed the premise and the promise, the result didn’t do much for me, and I didn’t find many laughs here. Eddie Murphy’s early scenes in the film borderlined on annoying instead of comical. And I’m pretty sure I automatically am turned off when a cabal of rich scumbags so cavalierly and contemptuously screw with people perceived as below them (similar reasons to why I couldn’t get attached to Margin Call recently). So, I’ll keep getting my early eighties Dan Akroyd kick from Ghostbusters.

Aykroyd here is an order of magnitude funnier than in GHOSTBUSTERS, where all his entrances and reaction shots seems sluggish. A difference in directing style, screenwriting, character ideation, pharmaceuticals?

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Coming to america was leuker, maar ook in deze film was eddie nog erg goed.

I was surprised that Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy weren't very good. The whole movie was a giant SNL sketch. Aykroyd was just bad, but Eddie was a step or two away from Alex Foley. The big surprise, was that Don Ameche stole the movie. Right up to the end, he was a perfect and unredeemable scumbag. Bellamy was good too, but Ameche was so funny, that I could put aside the parts I didn't care for and enjoy this average comedy.

I love this movie, it is one of my favourite comedies. I have fond memories of watching it when I was a kid. I kept saying to my girlfriend that she should watch it with me. One night, she did.

One of her first comments was 'this movie is incredibly dated'. Looking at it with fresh eyes made me realise that it is a little dated. Some of the racist comments from the Duke brothers made me wince a little but you could argue that's just part of their characters. Another part of you could say that's just a sign of the times the movie was made in.

Anyway, putting that to one side, I still love this movie! It is laugh out loud funny in places and has great performances from all involved.

Accomplishes the miracle of remaining great despite a horrendous third-act gorilla rape joke.