Review of Taking Care of Business (1990) by Rj M — 10 Sep 2008

Charles Grodin has always been great at playing the straight man in comedies. He's usually the put upon character who doesn't quite understand what is happening around him. Here he plays an ad exec whose entire life is contained between the covers of his filofax.

When he accidentally loses it, his life quickly falls in to chaos. Jim Belushi plays an escaped car thief who find the filofax as he tries to make his way to the World Series to watch his favorite team, the Chicago Cubs.

He quickly assumes Grodin's identity and live the high life while on the lam from the law. It's mistaken identity to the nth degree as Belushi begins to unravel everything Grodin has worked for.

But he may doing him a favor while doing it. It's a twist on the "Trading Places"-type of comedy where the lower class slob shows the upper crust how to lighten up. What would you do if you were suddenly given the keys to paradise? Would you try to fit in, or make that world fit around you? Jim Belushi will never be his brother, the late great John Belushi.

But he never tries to be. He deliver the smart aleck lines with skill, and make the character a likeable oaf. Grodin is great as his foil. A man who loses total control of his life, but finds himself again in the process.

Sounds preachy for a comedy, but it really isn't. It's a fun ride, and director Arthur "Silver Streak" Hiller keeps things moving quickly, balancing the rise and fall of each characters luck in the process.

It may not be "Trading Places", but it's fun all the same.