Taking Care of Business (1990)

Great Film overall

Excellent but underrated film

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Taking Care of Business (1990) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A better than you'd expect comedy about mistaken identity as criminal Jimmy Dworski (James Belushi) escapes from prison so that he can catch a World Series game and once on the outside he finds the filofax of a rich man (Charles Grodin) and takes his identity. Soon Jimmy is trying to live the lifestyle of a rich guy while the real one gets into one mess after another when no one believes who he really is. TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS certainly isn't a film you're going to label a masterpiece but if you're a fan of the two stars then they bring enough energy to their performances to make the film worth seeing. I remember watching this in the theater at the age of ten so revisiting it all these years later really didn't have me enjoying it as much as I did back in the day but I still found it to be fairly entertaining. I think the main draw of the film is the performance by Belushi who was born to play this type of fast-talking criminal who isn't shy about speaking his mind and insulting anyone who gets into his way. Belushi was pitch-perfect in the part and it really gave him a chance to break out from his brother's shadow and for the most part the actor took advantage of it. There are some very funny moments where he goes up against some high-end rich folks and the actors comic timing couldn't have been better. Grodin doesn't get as much to do and that's a shame because he too is perfect at playing these pampered type of characters. One wishes the screenplay had done a little more with him but the actor still makes the most out of it. Hector Elizondo has a couple good moments as the warden, Anne DeSalvo plays an annoying "friend" to Grodin and Loryn Locklin is quite attracted as Belushi's love interest. Fans of the original DAWN OF THE DEAD will enjoy seeing Ken Foree playing one of the criminals. I think the film does have a few problems and one is certainly the screenplay that really doesn't offer us anything we haven't already seen. This movie was obviously influenced by TRADING PLACES but one wishes this film would have pushed the boundaries a tad bit more. Another problem is that this thing almost clocks in at 110-minutes, which is way too long as things start to run out of gas around the 90-minute mark. With that said, fans of Belushi and Grodin will still want to check this out.

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

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!

This is a nice, light comedy that floats along to the end so fast that you do not even notice it.Grodin turns in another winning performance as the up-tight advertising executive that has his life taken over by an escaped convict, Belushi, who only escaped to watch the big baseball match which he has won tickets for, when he finds his Filofax at the airport.What follows is some wonderful scenes as Belushi lives it up in the lap of luxury and does Grodin's job for him as he tries desperately to catch up with him.Belushi is best as he tries to break back into jail so he can be legally released less than twelve hours later. Throughout this movie Belushi proves what a star he could have if he had arrived on the scene independent of everyone else, and without being over-shadowed by his self-destructive big brother.Nevertheless, a very basic, but still highly enjoyable comedy.