This blatant, unacknowledged reworking of The Prince and the Pauper is a rattling comedy showcase for the unique talents of Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, who have seldom recaptured the form they show here. However, there's no question that the acting honours go to veterans Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy, as the mischievous business bigwigs whose wager brings about the respective rise and fall of a lowlife conman (Murphy) and a pompous broker (Aykroyd). Jamie Lee Curtis also makes quite an impression as a kind-hearted hooker and proved that there was more to her than screaming and running away from slash-happy psychopaths. Director John Landis tends to pull his satirical punches against yuppiedom, and it's a shame that he settles for a brash slapstick finale after so many fresh, immaculately timed comic situations, but this remains very entertaining.

A snobbish investor and a wily street con-artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.