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Big Business Reviews

1988 Certificate PG
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 1665 members

Two sets of female twins are mixed up at birth. One set becomes the chief executives of a Manhattan conglomerate, while the other set succeeds at becoming poor country bumpkins. They all accidentally meet up at New York's Plaza Hotel, and from then on it's chaos all the way... Read more

Starring Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin, Edward Herrmann, Fred Ward
Director Jim Abrahams
Genres Children, Comedy

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  • Critics' reviews (3) of Big Business

    View all
  • 5 stars out of 5

    Hailed by some critics as the greatest Laurel and Hardy comedy ever filmed, this has the dynamic duo fighting back in an orgy of reciprocal destruction. They're door-to-door salesmen selling Christmas trees in sunny California, up against their ever-wrathful stooge, James Finlayson — he of the pop-eyes and belligerent moustache — as a householder driven to take apart, bit by bit, their car, while they tear up his house and garden. Stan's crocodile tears win over the on-guard policeman, but Ollie's giveaway grin ruins any chance of a happy-ever-after finale. Even from them this is outstanding.

    • Radio Times
  • Two sets of identical twins, one of each having been accidentally swapped at birth by a short-sighted nurse, are... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
  • Loud-shouting farce which just about gets by on star value.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
  • Most helpful members' reviews (3) of Big Business

    View all
  • 3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    You must watch this film!!!!

    If you don't watch this film you're crazy!!! Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin's performances are amazing. This is the funniest film I've ever seen... 'Take a purge'

      • Daryl Hofwolt from London, England
  • 3 out of 4 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    Big waste of time

    You'd think you'd get bigger and better laughs out of the comic pairing of Midler and Tomlin as 2 sets of identical twins switched at birth and meeting up accidentally in New York as adults, but the resulting pickings here are very slight indeed. Midler overplays to an excessive amount, while Tomlin flutters around in the background. It tries to play like a bad French farce with lots of door-slamming and characters just missing each other. But its the audience and our need for some comedy that they miss.

      • RJNeb2
  • 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    TOP MOVIE !!!

    Two of America's funniest women, Midler and Tomlin, are paired in this mistaken-identity farce (a loose reworking of START THE REVOLUTION WITHOUT ME) directed by Abrahams, the man in the middle of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker triumvirate that created AIRPLANE!; RUTHLESS PEOPLE; and THE NAKED GUN. While traveling in West Virginia, a wealthy New York woman goes into labor and is rushed to the nearest hospital. Because the hospital caters only to employees of the Hollowmade Furniture factory, her millionaire husband buys the company on the spot, and she is admitted. She gives birth to twin daughters--as does a local woman in another room. A near-sighted nurse mixes up the babies, of course. Years later Midler and Tomlin are the two pairs of mismatched twins. Midler plays both Sadie Shelton, the tough-as-nails CEO of the Moramax Corporation, and Sadie Ratliff, a Hollowmade employee who dreams of a life of luxury far removed from her home in Jupiter Hollow. Tomlin portrays the wispy Rose Shelton, who worries more about saving whales than about Moramax's profit outlook, and Rose Ratliff, a headstrong Hollowmade foreman and union organizer who stomps off to New York City with her sister to fight Moramax's proposed sale of the furniture factory. Both sets of twins check into the Plaza Hotel, and confusion abounds as they are repeatedly mistaken for one another while never quite meeting. This comedy of errors has more than a few laughs; but although it will satisfy Midler fans, it is not likely to win her many new converts. Nor does the movie use Tomlin to her best advantage. The broad humor of BIG BUSINESS is well-suited to Midler's sassy, steamroller style, and she sashays through both of her roles with plenty of verve. In contrast, however, is Tomlin, whose more subtle approach is lost in this broad farce. Director Abrahams, working on his own for the first time, has some problems with pacing and with sustaining an essentially one-joke premise that never arrives at its big payoff. He often misses the mark with smaller targets too, but he does elicit some fine supporting performances from Ward, Gerroll, Placido, and Webb, who provide many of the best laughs.

      • A customer from GLASGOW
  • Most recent members' reviews (2) of Big Business

    View all
  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    No violence and very funny

    Based on a typical shakespeare mix up, very funny indeed, Bette & Lily never fail.

      • A customer from Leicester
  • 3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    You must watch this film!!!!

    If you don't watch this film you're crazy!!! Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin's performances are amazing. This is the funniest film I've ever seen... 'Take a purge'

      • Daryl Hofwolt from London, England
  • 3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    You must watch this film!!!!

    If you don't watch this film you're crazy!!! Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin's performances are amazing. This is the funniest film I've ever seen... 'Take a purge'

      • Daryl Hofwolt from London, England
  • 3 out of 4 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    Big waste of time

    You'd think you'd get bigger and better laughs out of the comic pairing of Midler and Tomlin as 2 sets of identical twins switched at birth and meeting up accidentally in New York as adults, but the resulting pickings here are very slight indeed. Midler overplays to an excessive amount, while Tomlin flutters around in the background. It tries to play like a bad French farce with lots of door-slamming and characters just missing each other. But its the audience and our need for some comedy that they miss.

      • RJNeb2
  • 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    TOP MOVIE !!!

    Two of America's funniest women, Midler and Tomlin, are paired in this mistaken-identity farce (a loose reworking of START THE REVOLUTION WITHOUT ME) directed by Abrahams, the man in the middle of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker triumvirate that created AIRPLANE!; RUTHLESS PEOPLE; and THE NAKED GUN. While traveling in West Virginia, a wealthy New York woman goes into labor and is rushed to the nearest hospital. Because the hospital caters only to employees of the Hollowmade Furniture factory, her millionaire husband buys the company on the spot, and she is admitted. She gives birth to twin daughters--as does a local woman in another room. A near-sighted nurse mixes up the babies, of course. Years later Midler and Tomlin are the two pairs of mismatched twins. Midler plays both Sadie Shelton, the tough-as-nails CEO of the Moramax Corporation, and Sadie Ratliff, a Hollowmade employee who dreams of a life of luxury far removed from her home in Jupiter Hollow. Tomlin portrays the wispy Rose Shelton, who worries more about saving whales than about Moramax's profit outlook, and Rose Ratliff, a headstrong Hollowmade foreman and union organizer who stomps off to New York City with her sister to fight Moramax's proposed sale of the furniture factory. Both sets of twins check into the Plaza Hotel, and confusion abounds as they are repeatedly mistaken for one another while never quite meeting. This comedy of errors has more than a few laughs; but although it will satisfy Midler fans, it is not likely to win her many new converts. Nor does the movie use Tomlin to her best advantage. The broad humor of BIG BUSINESS is well-suited to Midler's sassy, steamroller style, and she sashays through both of her roles with plenty of verve. In contrast, however, is Tomlin, whose more subtle approach is lost in this broad farce. Director Abrahams, working on his own for the first time, has some problems with pacing and with sustaining an essentially one-joke premise that never arrives at its big payoff. He often misses the mark with smaller targets too, but he does elicit some fine supporting performances from Ward, Gerroll, Placido, and Webb, who provide many of the best laughs.

      • A customer from GLASGOW
  • 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Brilliant!!

    This has to be one of my all time favourites films. Its an easy watch and is hilarious. A real laugh out loud film!

    Bette Midler fans will love this film. She and Lily Tomlin are great together. A must see!!!

      • LuciRob from Wakefield
  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    The BEST film EVER!!!!

    This is the funniest film in the world! With some of the best quotes from a film ' You look like a blood clot', 'Euro-trash' 'By the way the delay in checking in was in-ex-cusable', 'Well the French must be taller than me'......and so many more!!!

    You must see this - Bette and Lily rock!

    I agree with Daryl H - 'Take a Purge'

      • RICHARD Storton from London, England
  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    I loved this film!

    This is such a funny film. I was laughing out loud and never without a smile on my face. I think they stole the plot from Shakespeare! It was just the best FEEL GOOD film .

      • A customer from Cornwall England
  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    Oldie but goodie

    I chose this because I remembered watching it when I was a child. It wasn't as good as I thought but then again nothing ever is! Bette Midler is her usual crazy character and her and Lily Tomlin make a great double act. Good family film ideal for a Sunday afternoon.

      • Nicola McGuire from Manchester
  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    Not as good as I remember

    This was watchable, no laugh out loud moments. Not even a chuckle really.

      • A customer from Kent, England
  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    * * * This review contains spoilers * * *ShowHide

    Rated - 3 stars

    MY BIG BUISINESS REVIEW

      • ANTHONY CHILCOTT from SWANSEA SOUTH WALES
  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 1 star

    OH MY GOD

    Absolute shocking film

      • A customer from Bsildon
  • Critics' reviews (3)

  • 5 stars out of 5

    Hailed by some critics as the greatest Laurel and Hardy comedy ever filmed, this has the dynamic duo fighting back in an orgy of reciprocal destruction. They're door-to-door salesmen selling Christmas trees in sunny California, up against their ever-wrathful stooge, James Finlayson — he of the pop-eyes and belligerent moustache — as a householder driven to take apart, bit by bit, their car, while they tear up his house and garden. Stan's crocodile tears win over the on-guard policeman, but Ollie's giveaway grin ruins any chance of a happy-ever-after finale. Even from them this is outstanding.

    • Radio Times
  • Two sets of identical twins, one of each having been accidentally swapped at birth by a short-sighted nurse, are... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
  • Loud-shouting farce which just about gets by on star value.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide

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    • Two sets of female twins are mixed up at birth. One set becomes the chief executives of a Manhattan conglomerate, while the other set succeeds at becoming poor country bumpkins. They all accidentally ...

Rating breakdown

1,665 Member ratings
  • 100
206
  • 90
120
  • 80
250
  • 70
272
  • 60
365
  • 50
166
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123
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67
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68
  • 10
28

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