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Big Business

Big Business

Comedy · 1988

In the 1940s in the small town of Jupiter Hollow, two sets of identical twins are born in the same hospital on the same night. One set to a poor local family and the other to a rich family just passing through. The dizzy nurse on duty accidentally mixes the twins unbeknown to the parents. Our story flashes forward to the 1980s where the mismatched sets of twins are about to cross paths.

Movie details

Big Business

“Mixed up at birth, two sets of twins finally meet their match.”

1988 Comedy 1h 37m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

In the 1940s in the small town of Jupiter Hollow, two sets of identical twins are born in the same hospital on the same night. One set to a poor local family and the other to a rich family just passing through. The dizzy nurse on duty accidentally mixes the twins unbeknown to the parents. Our story flashes forward to the 1980s where the mismatched sets of twins are about to cross paths.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Big Business?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Jim Abrahams

Written by

Marc Reid Rubel · Dori Pierson

Bette Midler

Bette Midler

Sadie Ratliff / Sadie Shelton

Lily Tomlin

Lily Tomlin

Rose Ratliff / Rose Shelton

Fred Ward

Fred Ward

Roone Dimmick

Edward Herrmann

Edward Herrmann

Graham Sherbourne

Michele Placido

Michele Placido

Fabio Alberici

Daniel Gerroll

Daniel Gerroll

Chuck

Barry Primus

Barry Primus

Michael

Court is in session

Put Big Business on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Big-Idea Head

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.