BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Spikeopath Jimmy Dworski {James Belushi} has two days to go before his release from prison {he's a car thief you see}. Upon hearing a contest on the radio to win two tickets to see the Chicago Cubs in the World Series, he promptly phones in a wins the tickets. But after unsuccessfully haggling with the vengeful warden {Hector Elizondo} for early release, Jimmy breaks out of the big house and stumbles upon the treasured Filofax of advertisement executive Spencer Barnes {Charles Grodin}. As Spencer stumbles around a broken man without his Filofax, Jimmy starts to live the high life as Spencer Barnes.Well it's not really an out and out buddy movie till the last quarter, something that some writers have failed to mention. The preceding three quarters of the film follows the two role switch protagonists as they go about their merry/miserable ways respectively. Sounds like Trading Places eh? Well yes, that's because it is really. Here in lies the problem with Taking Care Of Business {AKA Filofax}, it's been done far better before and director Arthur Hiller and writers Jill Mazursky/J.J. Abrams either hadn't the nous, or the need, to at least instill some much needed deviation from the formula of such movies. So in the pantheon of role swap comedies, Taking Care Of Business is pretty much little league. So with that in mind it's something of an unexpected surprise to find it's actually very likable, thanks to the spirited turns offered up by Belushi & Grodin.Belushi here was on the back of buddy buddy comedies Red Heat & K-9, which, like or loath them? Garnered a cult fan base and showed Belushi to have an appealing comedic charm that people could warm too. Grodin had done the quite excellent Midnight Run with Robert DeNiro three years earlier, so both men were in familiar territory and both deliver entertaining contrasts of character. Belushi does his street wise child in a mans body act whilst Grodin lays on the softly spoken, anal whiner for maximum impact. The result of which just about stops the uninspired script from sinking the movie. Anne De Salvo, Loryn Locklin, Stephen Elliott, Veronica Hamel & Mako are in support, with Locklin not only providing a truly sexy moment, but also playing off Belushi's ebullience rather well.With some nice gags, genuinely funny scenes, and its two enjoyable leads, Taking Care Of Business is just about worth giving your time to. But any expectation of a new and interesting slant on the Prince And The Pauper theme will only end up in crushing disappointment. 6/10

MovieAddict2016 Taking Care of Business: 2/5 StarsA buddy movie is only as good as its buddies -- Gibson and Glover, Hoffman and Cruise, Milo and Otis, Hanks and Hooch. But there is one more element a buddy movie needs: A script. "Taking Care of Business" apparently forgot about the script and went straight on to its business.Jim Belushi and Charles Grodin are the film's main stars. They've both been in buddy films before. Belushi was in "K-9," and Grodin was in "Midnight Run" with Robert De Niro, the better of the two (by far). So it's more than generous to say they have had experience with these kinds of films. So why, oh, why didn't they realize what they were getting into when they signed onto this film?Belushi is the messy one, a Chicago Cubs fan who escapes from his minimum-security prison to cheer his team on at the World Series. Grodin is the neat one, a Filofax-fixated adman who loses his precious date book on the way to shmooze a client in Los Angeles. You'll never guess who finds and attempts to return the daily planner to the Malibu address inside. Belushi is a kind, sweet, gentle man, who just happens to be an excellent car thief. He drives over to Grodin's home in LA-style environments, to find no one home. But along the way he is mistaken for Grodin himself, and is given the good-life. Meanwhile, the real Grodin has been beaten up on his way to Malibu, drugged out and unconscious. But Belushi doesn't care, because he doesn't know Grodin, and why should he care if he has single-handedly taken his every identity? Directed by Arthur Hiller, "Taking Care of Business" is a "Trading Places"-story with new faces and a lesser script. It's not an awful film, it's not even a bad film, but it's not particularly original, entertaining nor exciting. Charles Grodin, who I have always enjoyed on-screen, really ruined his own career. I really like the guy, but when he had fame, he went for the cheap films. I know he said he never really liked acting a whole lot, but still...you'd think that he would at least try to go for something good now and then. "Taking Care of Business" isn't bad. But it's not nearly as good as it should have been. The script was forgotten and the actors came up with material gags along the way. Proof of this is how no one realized the audience could never care for these apparently brick-like, shallow, one-dimensional figures. Jim Belushi is supposed to be a sweet guy, but he's a car thief and God-knows what else. Things like this make the audience confused: Are we supposed to be caring for these characters as events in their lives roll out on screen in humorous ways, are we supposed to identify with them, or are they there simply as excuses for cheap gags? Personally, I could go another lifetime without trying to find out.

mattymatt4ever When I first watched this movie, I laughed and laughed and laughed! I was dying! Yes, it's a silly comedy that mostly depends on slapstick, but it works. The plot becomes more implausible by the minute, but with a film as fast-paced and funny as this, you tend to overlook all those flaws. Unless...it's your second viewing. Some comedies are incredibly funny on the first viewing, and are almost as--if not just as--funny on all the following viewings. You even start to laugh at jokes you didn't get the first time around. And there are comedies that are incredibly funny on the first viewing, but the laughs decrease on all the following viewings. Unfortunately, "Taking Care of Business" is an example of the latter. And as the laughs decrease, I felt more obligated to observe the plot. Though it succeeds in delivering big-time laughs, "TCOB" is a shallow farce that doesn't know when to quit. James Belushi is the main saving grace. Comic talent and energy obviously runs in the family (his brother, the late John Belushi) and he's doing a terrific job at carrying on the Belushi name. His starring roles in little-known films haven't given him the opportunity to show off his knack for comedy, but every once in a while he steals the show, one of which was his supporting role in the underrated romantic comedy "Return to Me." Jim's an underrated talent, who has an amazing comic energy--without being obnoxious--and I hope to see him in more and more comedies. Charles Grodin is amusingly deadpan. Then again, portraying his stuck-up character wasn't much of a stretch. But towards the film's conclusion, he shows off his more outrageous side and he's quite good. That blonde chick who plays Belushi's love interest is an absolute knockout! I didn't get her name, but I hope to see her more often. Despite its flaws, I can't completely downgrade a film that made me laugh hysterically the first time. Sure, you won't like it as much the second time, but who said you have to watch it a second time? Just watch it once and indulge! Plus, it has that great title song!My score: 7 (out of 10)

BatmanTheGreat I fell in love with this movie the first time I saw it, although the script is not brilliant the cast made a great effort and made it very convincing, James Belushi plays nice guy convict Jimmy Dworfski as he plans to escape prison for the weekend to see the Chicago Cubs in the World Series, getting his fellow in-mates to cover it up. While out he finds business executive Spencer Barnes (Charles Grodin) filofax and takes over his life. Belushi & Grodin are great together in this feel good comedy, as a lover of Baseball I was drawn to this even more, but if you're not you'll still find it just as enjoyable. This is the best James Belushi film I've seen!