Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/20/2008

Amazon.com essential video:
In this crowd-pleasing 1983 comedy of high finance about a homeless con artist who becomes a Wall Street robber baron, Eddie Murphy consolidated the success of his startling debut in the previous year's 48 Hours and polished his slick-winner persona. The turnabout begins with an argument between super-rich siblings, played by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche: Are captains of industry, they wonder, born or made? To settle the issue, the meanies construct a cruel experiment in social Darwinism. Preppie commodities trader Dan Aykroyd (perfectly cast) is stripped of all his worldly goods and expelled from the firm, and Murphy's smelly derelict is appointed to take his place, graduating to tailored suits and a world-class harem in record time. Eventually the two men team up to teach the nasty old manipulators a lesson, cornering the market in frozen orange juice futures in the process. Director John Landis (The Blues Brothers) doesn't have the world's lightest touch, but he hits most of the jokes hard and quite a few of them pay off. Trading Places is also a landmark film for fans of Jamie Lee Curtis. --David Chute

Rating : - Better than expected visuals, but a tin ear
I've always liked this movie and remember it as a pleasant surprise when I first saw it in theaters. It features a standout performance by Eddie Murphy (before he became a star in Beverly Hills Cop), a surprising career saver by Dan Aykroyd, and with a brief topless scene changed the public perception of Jamie Lee Curtis from scream queen to sex goddess. All this while skewering American classism.

As far as the blu-ray specifics go the video, while not spectacular, features a substantial improvement over the standard DVD. The real problem here appears to be the film itself which, frankly, looks more like it was shot as a TV movie-of-the-week. The print has really been cleaned up, removing all the scratches, dirt and hair that plagued my previous DVD. Thankfully there is no evidence of the rampant DNR or edge enhancement that detract from so many older catalog titles. Overall a solid hi-def upgrade.

On the audio front you get a Dolby Digital 5.1 remaster that sounds both dated and flat. While this is a dialog heavy film, even the classic R&B tunes in the soundtrack sound both tinny and lacking in low-end. Even though it's 5.1 it sounds just like stereo.

As far as suppliments go, you get an upgrade from the previous DVD (which had almost nothing) to a set that is still pretty bare bones overall.

Trading Places still holds up as one of the better comedies from its time period. Its class battle is still relevant, its got a fun cast, and big laughs come regularly throughout the film. All in all it is a fairly solid Blu-ray reissue. While the video is better than expected, the audio is really lacking.

Normally I'd suggest a rental unless you're an avid fan of the film. But at $8.88 here on Amazon if you like the movie at all you should just pick it up.