Big Business | | Cast : | Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin | | Director : | Jim Abrahams | | Studio : | Buena Vista Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Widescreen | | Released Date : | June 10, 1988 | | DVD Released Date : | January 13, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | October 19, 2004 | | Summary | Midler-fever | Content
 | I don't mean to be reviewing every Bette Midler movie in the world, but Amazon Recommendations seems to hate me. OK, so I liked Ruthless People. Give me a break, Amazon.
Look, this is a funny movie. Remo Williams is terrific in this movie as is Michael "Steven Keaton" Gross, working sadly without Meredith Baxter (Birney). Sure, Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin are both great. But the real star? Split-screen technology of the 80s. And the real winners here? The viewing public. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 19, 2004 | | Summary | "I'm Gonna Be Like Joan Collins And You Aint Gonna Stop me!" | Content
| I cannot recall a time when I did not love this hilarious movie, which is my favourite from the 1980's by far. The superb Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin enjoy a magical screen chemistry in "Big Business",that reminds me of some of the great comedy teams from Hollywood's Golden Age. A total laugh feast from start to finish this film strangely doesn't seem to have a high profile as comedies go however it is recommended viewing for anyone wanting a good old fashioned belly laugh and to see a comedy with probably the highest number of side splitting one liners in living memory. The premise of identical twins being mixed up at birth and meeting years later creating amusing complications is a tried and try formula for comedy however in "Big Business", it is given a new freshness by the two leads who literally fly away with the material here creating an unforgettable romp that takes us from humble Jupitor Hollow to the height of New York's business world.
The story begins in a flash back when wealthy New Yorkers Hunt and Binky Shelton are passing through rural backwater Jupitor Hollow when Binky goes into labour. At the same time locals Garth and Iona Ratliff also are expecting and both women give birth at the same moment and both produce twins which are not only given the same names of Sadie and Rose but are also mixed up. We move forward forty years to where Sadie Shelton is the corporate head of Moramax that is wanting to off load its ownership of Holomade, the local industry in Jupitor Hollow. Getting wind of their plans the militant Jupitor Hollow resident Rose Ratliff decides to go fight these "Pinstriped Trouser Snakes", on their own territory and Sadie eagerly follows along anxious to get out of boring Jupitor Hollow. Through a mix up they end up staying in the Plaza Hotel unknowingly right next door to their city twins where they discover such wonders as "sinks in the living room", and "soaps in the shapes of swans"! Complication piles on top of complication as Sadie Shelton's ex husband Michael (Barry Primus), can't believe the transformation when he mistakes the rural Sadie for his hard nosed wife and Jay Marshall(Michael Gross), can't for the life of him understand why Rose (Ratliff) is being so hostile towards him when he believes he is talking to demure Rose (Shelton). All comes to a head in the ladies room of all places where in a classic scene both sets of twins finally encounter each other and realise that there was a mix up at birth and that the two Sadie's are really the city Sheltons while the two Rose's are really the twins meant to be in Jupitor Hollow. The fast approaching stock holders meeting really puts the girls to the test when Sadie (Shelton), is locked up in a closet to prevent her from selling off her birthplace and its up to Sadie (Ratliff), to put all her watching of her idol Alexis Carrington in "Dynasty", to good use when in a hilarious moment she has to take over the meeting and turn the vote around from allowing Jupitor Hollow to be strip mined which she does beautifully.
Classic comedy if ever there was in my book and it reminds me of the antics of the pair of identical cousins, on the classic 1960's comedy series "The Patty Duke Show". I dont think I've ever seen Bette Midler in finer form than in "Big Business". Her comic timing and facial expressions are first rate and her switch from playing the hard as nails Sadie Shelton who's all "hostile takeovers" to the naive and totally impressionable country bumpkin Sadie Ratliff who only wants to be able to say "keep the change!" is a revelation and will send you into tail spins of laughter. Her classic mirror sequence with her "twin", is a total riot and her statement that "this whole thing has got UFO written all over it!",will have you breaking up with laughter. Equally Lily Tomlin as both country activist Rose Ratcliff, "I'm gonna go kick some snooty New York Ass!", and as Rose Shelton the awkward out of place city girl "I hate shopping and I hate New York in June!",is also top rate. Her rejection of Jay's engagement ring as a supposed "bribe" and when she then refers to the poor puzzled man as a "great big belly scraping pile of cow plop!", is one of the absolute comic highlights of the whole movie and is a scene I never tire of replaying a dozen times with each screening I have of this movie. Of course with the two sets of twins winding up both staying in adjoining suites at New York's Plaza Hotel there are many hilarious moments when outsiders get the pairs mixed up. Two of my favourites are the unfortunate desk clerk's (Joe Grifasi), continual mixing up of Sadie Shelton/Ratliff which results in his receiving a broken jaw instead of the passionate night of love making he imagined, and especially Fabio Alberici's (Michele Placido), total confusion about just who are the women who he is supposed to be doing business with - one minute they are corporate killers, the next ladies too afraid to pick up a car phone! The hilarious crossovers of characters walking in one door and coming out as another is beautifully played out in the breakfast room scenes when both women (one from the country and the other from the city), seemingly sit down for two breakfasts each much to the total confusion of each other and also the staff. It is however the unforgettable one liners that are liberally sprinkled throughout the script that create the greatest laughs and congratulations have to go to both Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin for making them seem just as fresh and funny on the tenth screening as on the first. Classics like: "Im gonna dip him in flour and fry him in his own grease!","Oh my God it's so COSMOpolitan", "Oh sure its full of crowds, smog, sex fiends, and white slavers, it's a pistol, I've got about as much use for it (New York), as a Toad has for spit pearls!", "Computer chips, they've got their ways!", and "Have you got your brains and your balls in your briefcase?", are guaranteed to crack you up with laughter as each new misunderstanding presents itself in the convoluted script.
Total escapism perhaps but this comedy never fails to get me laughing and coming back for more. It is a real pity that "Big Business", so far has marked the only time that Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin have worked together as the pair combine so well and would be wonderful together again in some other comedy vehicle. This film is a true comic treasure and can be enjoyed by all ages. I've been introducing it to my friends and family for years and the film now has many people as devoted and fanatical about it as I am! So I'd say to you that unless you have your brains and your balls in your briefcase get out there and find yourself a copy of this classic film soon if you haven't already. You wont regret it for one minute if only to enjoy these two comic legends, in Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin battling it out in a country values vs city profits laugh feast in "Big Business". Enjoy! |
| Rating | | | Date | September 06, 2004 | | Summary | The MEETIN'? Why are you so worried about the MEETIN'? | Content
| God, I must have seen this flick more than any other flick. Kudos to the other reviewers who have stated they grew up with this film. I did too. I can still remember seeing this in the theater. It has almost reached a cult status with my group of friends. Bette in full Alexis Carrington drag is at the peak of here career here. She is incredibly funny and not enough can be said about her palpable synergy with the great Lily Tomlin. Putting two comedic geniuses together and giving them such zingers like "Have you got your brains and your balls in your briefcase?", "Is this how we dress for the office? You look like a blood clot!" and "Oh my God, how did I get so fat? I look like a walleyed salmon! What did he use a wide angle lens?" was a gift from God.
|
| Rating | | | Date | January 19, 2004 | | Summary | One of my favorites | Content
| This movie is one of my favorites from growing up. I probably watched it at least 100 times as a child. I'm so glad to see it on DVD. Bette Midler(who plays Sadie and Sadie) and Lily Tomlin (who plays Rose and Rose)are so funny! |
| Rating | | | Date | November 22, 2003 | | Summary | Lord, my load is heavy! | Content
| This movie is not one of the most memorable comedies of the eighties, but it should be. It stands out among the booby comedies and the over the top antics of the era. What this dvd lacks in features, it makes up for in laughs. The simple premise and fabulous comedic timing make this a romp suitable for the whole family. I laugh my hind-quarters off everytime I watch it! SAVE JUPITER HOLLOW! |
|
