Trading Places (1983)

This week, the dads tackle Trading Places (1983), the John Landis comedy that asks the age-old question: what if you took a rich guy's entire life and gave it to Eddie Murphy? What follows is the dads marveling at how this movie somehow gets away with everything, from its gleefully un-PC opening minutes to Jamie Lee Curtis in one of her most revealing roles. They're genuinely impressed by Eddie Murphy's performance, calling out his ability to sell both the comedy and the emotional beats, and they can't stop talking about Dan Aykroyd's commitment to the bit, especially during his spectacular downward spiral. The gorilla suit comes up. The Santa beard comes up. The sheer audacity of the third act comes up a lot.

The conversation veers into fond territory when they dig into the Duke brothers as villains, the satisfying mechanics of the commodity exchange scheme (which they absolutely do not fully understand), and why this movie feels like it belongs to a different era of studio filmmaking. There's genuine affection here for the craft, the pacing, the way the screenplay threads everything together, and how Landis directs it all with confidence. They also spend quality time on Denholm Elliott and the supporting cast, appreciating how stacked this thing is with talent. The nostalgia runs deep, but so does the respect for what the movie pulls off, even when it's being completely ridiculous.

They wrestle with the movie's rougher edges, the stuff that wouldn't fly today, and somehow land on the idea that Trading Places is both a perfect time capsule and a genuinely smart comedy about class and capitalism wrapped in an absolutely unhinged Christmas caper. It's dumb. It's brilliant. It's Trading Places, and it still works.