I hadn't seen this movie in years and maybe never outside of the edited version on TNT. It's still hilarious. Back when Eddie Murphy wasn't trying to play every single character in a movie and was content just to be funny and when Dan Aykroyd was still skinny. Oh, the good old days.Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) is a product of the very best breeding and education America has to offer. Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) is a con man living on the streets, a product of the negative environment in which he was raised. After a chance of fate brings these two men into contrast, Winthorpe's bosses, brothers Mortimer (Don Ameche) and Randolph (Ralph Bellamy) Duke, decide to engage in a little social experiment on nature versus nurture. They have Winthorpe disgraced, fired, and arrested and raise Valentine up to his former place, giving him a butler (Denholm Elliott) and all the trappings of wealth. With no money and no hope, Winthorpe falls into poverty buffered only by the kindness of a street-wise prostitute (Jamie Lee Curtis). Valentine, meanwhile, learns of the bet the two Duke brothers have made and decides to take steps. When the two men team up to try and keep the millionaire from cornering the frozen orange juice market, things get crazy.
Like I said, I don't know if I've ever seen the unedited for TV version of this movie. For example, I was not aware that Jamie Lee Curtis gets topless. Although I fully approve. Other than the nudity, there's really nothing here that would cause censors to freak out. It's definitely not as ribald as Coming to America, which was also directed by John Landis and features a cameo by the disgraced Duke brothers.
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