Trading Places – “Looking Good, Feeling Good”
Edition (DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: C
I was
never a big fan of John Landis’ 1983 comedy Trading Places and though it was a hit and still is popular, the
Dan Aykroyd/Eddie Murphy starrer extrapolation broadly from The Prince & The Pauper as a rich
and poor man trade life roles. The
problem here is the same as it was about a quarter-century ago:
predictability. This is why Don Ameche
and Ralph Bellamy stole so many scenes, while both Jamie Lee Curtis and Denholm
Elliott were able to make room for themselves in the corpus of the
narrative. Otherwise, this is nostalgia
that you may or may not find funny. I
have yet to laugh.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is soft and looks like an older late
analog master. We did not cover the HD
versions, but they supposedly looked much better, though this is hardly a very
visually challenging film as shot by Director of Photography Robert Paynter,
B.S.C., which is surprising considering the distinct look British
cinematographers offer. But the idea was
simple shooting for comedy. The old
Dolby A-type analog sound has been upgraded to Dolby Digital 5.1, but it is
very weak and first-generation materials were not used here, which especially
does a disservice to Elmer Bernstein’s film-saving music.
Extras
include industry promo piece, optional trivia pop-ups, deleted scenes with
optional commentary track by Executive Producer George Fosley, Jr. and four
featurettes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
