Trading Places: Paramount Presents Edition - Blu-ray Review

Michael Scott

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Trading Places: Paramount Presents Edition


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Movie: :4.5stars:
Video: :4.5stars:
Audio: :4stars:
Extras: :2.5stars:
Final Score: :4stars:



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Movie

Once again we're back with an Eddie Murphy bonanaza, and this time it's a remaster (actually a bunch of remasters) of the old classics. Back in 2018 I reviewed the 35th anniversary edition of Trading Places (which was nothing but a reprint of the old 2007 disc with a DVD copy and digital code) HERE, but now Paramount has done a full 4K remaster, upgraded the audio to lossless and made it part of the Paramount Presents line of 4K remasters. While I would have loved to have seen the disc in 4K UHD (Coming to America did along with Beverly Hills Cop), this new remaster is a sight for sore eyes and a great upgrade to our 13 year old mastered disc we've had to deal with since the format war days.

While most people remember Coming to America as the start of Eddie Murphy’s lucrative comedy film career, it was actually Trading Places that kicked him off (and is arguably the better movie of the pair). Both directed by John Landis, and both featuring Eddie Murphy at the apex of his skill, the two movies have been iconicized as some of the best 80s comedies from Murphy by a large margin. Trading Places also happened to star a young Dan Aykroyd, who was also enjoying the apex of his career, and the two talents combined created a hilarious romp that is still relevant today. Paramount is bringing us this 35th anniversary edition to enjoy, but it comes with a few caveats. The new slipcover is nice, as is the choice of a digital copy, but the actual technical specs on the disc are identical to the 2007 Blu-ray, which makes it a bit of a harder sell to upgrade for those of us who already have the older disc.

Trading Places uses a humorous take on an age old question. The question being “what makes a man a gentleman? Is it his breeding, upbringing or wealth? Or is it something innate from within”? Two rich and snobby fat cat brothers, Randolph (Ralph Bellamy) and Mortimer Duke (Don Ameche) are constantly betting against each other for minor things. This time the two brothers get in a discussion about how money makes the man, so the two decide to bet a single dollar against each other, and the stakes are this. One person is stripped of his wealth and privilege, and the other is given a boost up in high society in order to see whether heredity and money make more of a difference than the person themselves. So, the two completely ruin the life of snobby Harvard educated commodities broker Louis Winthrope III (Dan Aykroyd) using spurious claims of embezzlement and fraud, effectively leaving him penniless. At the same time, they elevate a street hustler by the name of Billy Ray (Eddie Murphy) up to Winthrope’s old status, and sit back to watch the fun begin.

Humiliated and abused by life, Winthrope is forced out of his mansion and onto the street, where he takes up residence with a hooker with a heart of gold (Jaimie Lee Curtis), while he has to watch Billy Ray sit in his seat of luxury and take over his estate from out on the streets. However, fate has other plans for the two, and the pair of complete opposites are soon forced together to find out what happened to them, as well as foil a commodities scam that the insanely rich Duke brothers are trying to pull off. All while trying to get some semblance of their lives back.

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Trading Places is a film that I don’t think could have been made today. John Landis doesn’t just try to focus on racial hot spots or whine about social injustices. It instead develops the quirks and characters of the players so that they become funny for who they ARE rather than their identity in race or societal status. The comedic timing is top notch, allowing for Aykroyd and Murphy to play off of each other with hilarious results (many of them improved according to interviews and the like). Both Winthrope and Billy Ray are characters that you want to root for by the end of the film, no matter their heredity, and Landis cleverly shifts around the goal posts several times in the film so that it’s not wildly obvious who is going to “win the bet”.

The one common enemy that all have in common is the unscrupulous Duke brothers, who are setup as your stereotypical George Soros, Koch Borthers and Bloombergs. Rich, snobby men who feel that they can get away with toying with other peoples lives because they’re powerful enough to do so. A nice foil for both men to unite over and Don Ameche and Bellamy play the roles magnificently. You love to hate them, and the inevitable showdown between the two old fogeys makes for one of the more hilarious gags in the film.




Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA



Video: :4.5stars:
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Yum is all I can say. The 2007 disc was one of the better transfers of it's class back in the day, but it was stuck on an old BD-25 single layer disc and had some filtering going on. Paramount has gone back and remastered the film and given it quite the upgrade. I rated the old disc a 3.5/5 for it's video, but this is a solid 4.5/5 all the way. The filtering that happened back then is completely gone, leaving a very nice and filmic layer of grain that isn't mutilated by crunchy grain and mushy smoothness thanks to the DNR. The detail levels are marvelous, as you can see every fiber on Dom Ameche's and Ralph Bellamy's aging faces, and the colors really do pop. The film has always had a slight pale look to facial tones and that hasn't changed, but you can see the moles on faces, and the razor marks on Akroyd's face even clearer. Colors are well defined and have excellent saturation, but it's never overly flashy or overly rich. Black levels maintain a very healthy look with a solid amount of shadow detail and no major crush. Look at the black gorilla suit just as it's going on the cruiser to Africa. It's deep, inky and shows off every fiber of fake fur without any sign of crush. All around an excellent upgrade.




Audio: :4stars:
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It's amazing what a good lossless audio mix can do to a track. the 5.1 Dolby Digital track (upmixed from the mono source) was kind of "meh" and lacking on the old Blu-ray, but this lossless TrueHD 5.1 track (same stems, just given room to breathe with lossless encoding) breathes new life into it. The dialog sounds richer and fuller without the crushed highs that the DD track had, and the surround ambiance is incredibly full and robust. Said surrounds are not OVERLY active as there's only so much you can do with an upmix from a 2 channel track, but the added directionality and background noise (especially in the stock exchange room at the end) is very much appreciated. Bass shows a little extra depth and character, but it's slight considering that the film isn't very bassy to begin with. While this isn't a shock and awe mix, it is definitely a large step up over the anemic Dolby Digital track we've had for over 13 years.





Extras: :2.5stars:
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• Insider Trading: The Making of Trading Places
• Trading Stories
• The Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Executive Producer George Folsey Jr.
• Dressing the Park
• The Trade in Trading Places
• Theatrical Trailer
• Industry Promotional Piece









Final Score: :4stars:


Trading Places was Eddie’s Murphy’s first straight up leading comedy, and arguably the better film out of the Trading Places/Coming to America duo of films I'm reviewing here this week. John Landis was on top of his games and both Aykroyd and Murphy are hilarious in the movie. It asks the age old question of “what makes a gentleman? His money, or his internal core being?”, and runs with it. Now while I liked the 35th anniversary edition re-release with the new packaging, THIS is how the film should have been handled 2 years ago. A nice new 4K master that edges out the nice "older" transfer rather easily, and we finally get the film in lossless audio as well (which is a nice large improvement). New extras, and there's nothing here not to like. Well, except for the wish that this had gotten the 4K UHD treatment. But grumbling about that aside, this is a great release that FINALLY gives the near decade old master a facelift and the audio is well worth upgrading to. Must buy.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Jaimie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd
Directed by: John Landis
Written by: Timothy Harris, Herschel Weingrod
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French, Spanish DD Mono, Isolated Score DD 2.0
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, French
Studio: Paramount
Rated: R
Runtime: 116 minutes
Blu-Ray Release December 1st, 2020
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Recommendation: Great Buy

 
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Sonnie

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I remember telling myself I wasn't going to watch this movie... never was an Eddie Murphy fan. Then I did... and have seen it countless times back in the early days. Great movie.

I don't remember the R rating... language maybe?
 

Michael Scott

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I remember telling myself I wasn't going to watch this movie... never was an Eddie Murphy fan. Then I did... and have seen it countless times back in the early days. Great movie.

I don't remember the R rating... language maybe?

a little language, and probably for the brief topless scene at the party at his house
 

Sonnie

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Michael Scott

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Ahh... forgot about that.

yeah, it's really brief and the only "naughty" part of the entire movie. lasts like 5 seconds lol. But yeah, the movie is one of his best. He and Akroyd were on fire during this
 

tripplej

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Thanks for the review. A great movie to own.

I still remember the quote..

"no matter whether our clients make money or lose money, Duke and Duke get the commissions"

Still holds true today and that is why the brokerage firms are always happy to take your money! lol. :)
 

Todd Anderson

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Love this flick... pure classic all the way around!
 
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