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Big Business (1988)

Director: Jim Abrahams

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3 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Two sets of identical twins, one of each having been accidentally swapped at birth by a short-sighted nurse, are finally, and confusingly, reunited years later in New York. You get the picture, they check into the same hotel, and spend the whole film rushing from room to room, being mistaken for each other by an assortment of bellboys, conspiratorial executives, and conniving Italian businessmen. Midler gets to play her vulgar, trashy self twice over, Tomlin introduces a little comic variety as the gutsy blue collar worker and the drippy sister, and Abrahams handles the mechanical plot with skill, if not style. The frenetic fun reduces everyone to a cipher; it's difficult to care about any of them.

Author: NF

Time Out Film Guide


User reviews of this film

  • Louis Burns said...
    Posted on Sep 08 2009 16:20 Why Ms. Midler and Ms. Tomlin never got together on screen again is beyond me. They were great together in this film, Bette is hilarious, and Lily is her usual caretaker self. This is a very fun movie.
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  • Bruce Demma said...
    Posted on Feb 11 2008 12:02 A delightfully wacky comedy with Bette Midler at her trashiest best and Lilly Tomlin at her zaniest. Surprisingly (to me) it received lukewarm reviews at its release, but this reviewer thinks it's a classic.
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  • terry said...
    Posted on Sep 28 2007 19:00 I love both actresses' acting!
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