Movie Review: Trading Places (1983)

★★★★★

I realized how smart Trading Places really is. Still one of the best comedies of the ’80s hands down.

Karen W.

Montana

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Trading Places

1983

Long before The Wolf of Wall Street or The Big Short showed us the absurdity of finance, there was Trading Places (1983). Directed by John Landis and starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, and Jamie Lee Curtis, this comedy classic isn't just about laughs it's about greed, race, class, and how ridiculous the system really is.

But here’s the fun twist: instead of lectures or heavy social commentary, the film delivers its critique through pratfalls, con jobs, and one of the smartest screenplays of the 1980s. Watching it today, it’s still hilarious but it also feels strangely relevant, even in a post-Gamestop-stock-saga world.

At BoxReview.com, we’re all about rewatching the classics with fresh eyes, and Trading Places is one of those films that keeps giving especially when you dig beneath the surface.

A Social Satire Disguised as a Buddy Comedy

The premise is brilliantly simple. Two wealthy and heartless brothers the Duke brothers make a casual $1 bet to see if they can manipulate success. They take Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd), a blue-blood commodities broker, and replace him with Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy), a streetwise hustler. The idea? Swap their circumstances and see who rises and who falls.

On the surface, it’s a classic fish-out-of-water comedy. But what makes it fascinating is how it’s not really about who’s better it’s about how fragile and arbitrary success actually is. Aykroyd’s character is ruined overnight by nothing more than social engineering, and Murphy’s character thrives not because he’s a conman, but because he’s actually smart and just needed a shot.

This idea that success has less to do with talent and more to do with access was bold in 1983. It hits even harder now.

Eddie Murphy: A Star in Full Control

Most reviews focus on Eddie Murphy’s charisma (and yes, he’s magnetic), but what really stands out is how layered his performance is. Murphy could’ve easily played Billy Ray as just a jokester, but instead he gives the character a real arc. In his first scene, he’s playing up stereotypes to hustle money. But the moment he enters Winthorpe’s world, you see something shift he starts to play the system, not just react to it.

There’s one moment that always gets me: Billy Ray is left alone in Winthorpe’s mansion. At first, he celebrates. Then he sits down and looks around and you can see the wheels turning. It’s not about having nice things. It’s about what those things represent. That’s when the movie really shifts from a comedy into something more.

And let’s be real Murphy carries the film. This was only his second movie (after 48 Hrs.), and he already had the timing, charm, and gravitas of someone twice his age.

Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis: The Underrated Anchors

Dan Aykroyd doesn’t get enough credit here. His portrayal of Winthorpe is fantastically unlikable pompous, smug, and totally disconnected from reality. But as the film goes on, Aykroyd makes us root for him without ever softening the character too much. When Winthorpe hits rock bottom (dressed as Santa, drunk, eating smoked salmon through a dirty beard), it’s sad and hilarious. Aykroyd sells the breakdown with perfect timing and just enough pathos.

And then there’s Jamie Lee Curtis. As Ophelia, the savvy sex worker who helps Winthorpe get back on his feet, Curtis plays a rare character in ’80s comedies: a woman with agency. She’s not just a romantic interest she’s the smartest person in the room, handling money, making decisions, and never letting anyone make her the punchline. It’s a sharp, grounded performance that balances out the chaos.

Things Most Reviews Miss: Financial Jargon as Farce

Here’s something rarely discussed: Trading Places is surprisingly accurate in its depiction of commodities trading. The final act, set on the trading floor during the frozen concentrated orange juice market chaos (yes, that’s a real thing), is absurd but it’s also legit.

What’s wild is how the film weaponizes financial language as a joke. It doesn’t slow down to explain everything, because that’s part of the point this world is intentionally confusing and gatekept. Yet, by the end, the audience gets it. It’s a subtle way of showing how opaque systems are used to keep outsiders out, and how once you learn the rules, you can turn the tables.

Why It Still Works Today

In a world where billionaires go to space and Wall Street memes break the internet, Trading Places feels almost prophetic. It shows how systems of power are built on ego and money, how racism and classism still influence opportunity, and how the elite often treat real lives like a game.

But instead of yelling those points at us, it wraps them up in a buddy comedy, throws in a gorilla costume, and lets us laugh and think. That’s rare. And it’s why the film endures.

Final Thoughts from BoxReview.com

At BoxReview.com, we love when a movie makes you laugh on first watch and makes you think on the second. Trading Places is that kind of movie. It’s a comedy that’s aged better than most of its era, not just because it’s funny (and it is), but because it still has something to say.

It’s one of those films that works as a Saturday night laugh-fest or a late-night “wait, this is actually kinda deep” rewatch. If you haven’t revisited it in a while, trust me it’s worth trading back in.

Act Fast... Limited Time Offer!

Trading Places

1983