SummaryBilly Ray Valentine (Murphy), a street con man and Louis Winthorpe III, a commodities broker (Aykroyd) agree to trade places after monied Mortimer Duke (Ameche) bets Billy Ray could pull in more money than Louis could on the streets.
Directed By:John Landis
Written By:Timothy Harris, Herschel Weingrod
Trading Places
Metascore
Generally Favorable
69
User score
Generally Favorable
7.7
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
69
82% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
9% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
9% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
88
It's the funniest new movie on town. [July 22, 1983]
88
But what's most visible in the movie is the engaging acting. Murphy and Aykroyd are perfect foils for each other.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.7
80% Positive
97 Ratings
97 Ratings
17% Mixed
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
3% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Dec 30, 2023
10
Classic 80's comedy. To not rate this 10 stars you must not be a movie goer. Name a funnuer 89's movie with an all star cast thats funnier.
Dec 25, 2022
10
Un classico incredibile e indimenticabile. Uno spaccato della società non solo dell'epoca trattata ma di tutte quelle a venire.
Storia educativa come poche, puramente per adulti, ma educativa, in grado di mostrare quanto un individuo possa essere condizionato dall'ambiente e quanto sia pesante, nella vita di chiunque, l'unica cosa in grado di donare degli effettivi ed assoluti privilegi, la ricchezza. Film tra l'altro realmente sociale e inclusivo, non come le idiozie degli ultimi tempi che si fregiano di chissà quale inclusività nel loro inserire forzatamente (dandogli un peso folle e irrealistico in modo discriminatorio) certe diversità.
Questo film mette tutti sotto la stessa bandiera, pone tutti nello stesso piano, insegnando a guardare oltre le apparenze e al ceto sociale nel giudicare un individuo, insegnando il valore dell'aiutarsi e rispettarsi a vicenda senza buonismi sterili.
Se non è natalizio e realmente all'avanguardia questo film nessun film lo è.
Capolavoro da tramandare come è avvenuto fino ad ora, del resto "che natale sarebbe senza una poltrona per due?".
80
[Murphy] makes Trading Places something more than a good-hearted comedy. He turns it into an event.
80
Trading Places is a light romp geared up by the schtick shifted by Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy.
75
Trading Places, which is wildly funny at times, is Murphy's film. [10 Jun 1983]
70
It's a big, lavishly staged farce that aims to please even those who favor sophisticated screwball comedy, a genre to which it is greatly indebted.
30
Director John Landis is so deficient in basic storytelling skills that he must spend hours explicating the most elementary plot points while and Murphy are sidelined.
Dec 19, 2019
10
Brilliant film, all of the characters are in tune and the script and imperial music complete the enjoyment.
Jun 19, 2025
6
It's pretty good but I found most of the jokes and plotting cliche for the most part.
Aug 30, 2024
6
Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy embark upon a buddy film that's not really a buddy film, crossing paths only fleetingly before swapping lifestyles and trying the theory of nature vs. nurture amidst the hustle and bustle of Wall Street. Like Richard Pryor's The Toy, there's a puzzling vein of not-so-subtle racism that runs through the core of this seemingly straight family comedy, particularly when Aykroyd dons black face in the third act, and that’s only partially settled at the conclusion. Maybe that's a product of the era in which it was made, though, and it seems somewhat validated, if not approved, by Murphy's close presence in every remotely thorny scene. Otherwise, this is a lightly funny, straight-ahead retread with a few good laughs but no rapid-fire side splitters. Murphy and Aykroyd are both solid as obnoxious stereotypes of the worst their culture has to offer, while Jamie Lee Curtis's turn as the hooker with a head for business challenges convention in different ways.
Sep 2, 2011
3
Many of the jokes fail and those that are funny are played out far too long. Nothing is done to make the "wrongfully accused" cliche more believable. There are a couple great scenes, and Aykroyd and Murphy both try hard, but their characters almost never interact with each other. Wasted potential.
