Trading Places.

Two guys swap places as part of a bet and the result was a more than decent film.

Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd become the victim of a bet made by two brothers. Aykroyd starts off as the well paid young man who has it all- a Harvard education, a fiancee, a butler, the house, the car etc and then the two leading brothers of the firm that he works for. He stumbles in to a man who had just been picked up by the police for impersonating a blind war victim with no legs. Murphy attempts to give the brief case back to Aykroyd who claims that it is an attempted robbery and presses full charges. A bet is a bet so Murphy is released on bail by Dukes and takes the place of Aykroyd, who in turn is imprisoned, looses his fiancee, his job, his life and has to make do with a woman that picks him up.

Turning to criminal activity he ends up almost dying but not before Billy Ray Valentine discovers the bet and saves his life. So let's team up and make those guys pay. In the end they end up bankrupting the Dukes and making enough money for themselves and the others to live quite happily. The moral of the story is don't make a one dollar bet on someone's life. People's lives are worth more than money.

Eddie Murphy normally has something of a slightly irritating presence in films, trying to be funny when comedy is only funny when it is natural, not forced and no actual attempt to be funny. This film isn't as funny as it was made out to be. Don't get me wrong, the idea is a great idea, the concept is fantastic and the film is very, very good but it shouldn't be classed as a comedy- it isn't particularly funny.

Jamie Lee Curtis was probably the pick of the bunch, aiding Aykroyd as a supporting role and just helping the film to run smoothly.  Again, not necessarily a film that I would consider to be a Christmas film.