Zwei mal zwei

I rushed right out and located the DVD of "Big Business," even though I knew that Disney had a bad reputation for minimal value in extras on their DVD releases. That situation has improved over time, and seeing BB in wide screen made it all worthwhile. This movie started out funny for me and has gotten better with repeated viewings. It has an excellent pedigree with Jim Abrahams directing and Dean Cundey manning the camera, and the leads are definitely up to the challenge of dualie roles.

It is unusual for a comedy to have the strong viewpoint and values expressed in this movie. Fred Ward's Rune talks about the simple pleasures of living in the rural country and you know that somebody involved with the script knew those pleasures personally. The characters rarely become stereotypes. Even the secondary characters are treated with respect.

Dean Cundey, Director of Photography, must have been specializing in trick photography as he went on to shoot "Back to the Future 2" and "3" with even better results. The effects budget for BB was high enough to keep the believability intact.

To me this is an all-around enjoyable light comedy.

Two pairs of mismatched identical twins (you'll understand this term when you see this movie) grow up in different American cities. One pair (Midler and Tomlin) grow up in Manhattan, the other pair (played by the same actresses) grow up in their Southern hillbilly birthplace, "Jupiter Hollow." Although this comedy lacks in some departments, it's still worth a viewing. Midler and Tomlin do an admirable job switching personalities... the rich-bungling Tomlin is a perfect match, personality wise, for the podunk Midler; and the rich-snobby Midler is the worthy challenge for the podunk-spunk of Tomlin (again, you'll understand this when you see it).

I love Big Business. The plot device of babies or twins being mixed up at birth isn't new, but it's rarely been done as well as it has here. Credit for that must largely go to the two leads - Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin. Both are outstanding and transition between their dual roles with ease. The support cast is excellent too. Not all of the scenarios that make up the plot are brilliantly funny in themselves, but they are performed so well you'll think they are. I especially love the scene where Bette Midler dances and yodels on a New York street. Something about that always makes me smile. Big Business is over 30 years old as I write this, but it's head and shoulders above lots of the so-called comedy that is foisted on us today. In this age of female empowerment there is a big push to give us movies of all types with strong female leads. Some older movies that originally had a male cast have even been rewritten as vehicles for female stars rather than men (Ghostbusters anyone??) Bette and Lily did it before this trend became a thing and they did it better. If you've never seen this movie, watch it. If you haven't seen it in a while, do yourself a favour and watch it again. It hasn't dated.

I just love this movie - I've seen it several times and it makes me laugh each time. The two lead actresses are wonderful, and perform their roles perfectly. Bette Midler is especially wonderful as the rich bitch.

Mistaken identity comedy has always been something that really cracks me up. (TV's "Three's Company" comes to mind) Plots that revolve around scenes with two people thinking two completely different things is just FUNNY. "Big Business" has a couple of truly hysterical scenes (The one in the elevator nearly killed me). Maybe it helps to be in the mood, but either way, it's an enjoyable little movie with some great performances.

Forget the fact that this situation would never happen. Just have a laugh.