Starring: Jim Belushi, Charles Grodin, Anne De Salvo, Loryn Locklin, Mako, Veronica Hamel, Héctor Elizondo
Written By: Jill Mazursky, J. J. Abrams
Directed By: Arthur Hiller
Studio: Kino Lorber
Buy On Amazon.com
Taking Care Of Business is one of those movies that I usually ended up watching whenever it was on TV. It’s now been reissued on Blu-Ray via Kino Lorber so I can watch it whenever. After seeing the movie again, it still holds up as entertaining but does feel a little dated in some ways. Oh yeah, that unknown guy named J.J. Abrams co-wrote this!
The movie is about convicted car thief and Cubs fans Jimmy (Jim Belushi), who’s serving time in jail. He wins World Series tickets over the phone in jail and all his buddy inmates come up with a plan for him to escape so he can go. It’s silly but it gets sillier. While out of jail, he finds a filofax for ad executive Spencer Barnes (Charles Grodin). Originally he wanted to get a reward for finding it but then he starts taking on his identity instead. Meanwhile, the real Spencer is having a tough time with trying to get his life back on track since his filofax went missing.
Jim Belushi had a few hits back in the early 90s (this one, Mr Destiny, K-9) and I ended up liking them all. I probably liked this movie out of all of them. I just liked the premise of a convict escaping prison to see the world series, and then taking on someone else’s life. By the way, did they really make it seem like the World Series was only one game or that it was game 7? And when does the World Series happen during the day? I’m sure that’s the least important question to be asking in this unrealistic movie but that’s what popped into my head.
What I think makes this movie fun is just seeing a convict play this other person and somehow making it work for a few days as an ad executive. One thing after another, people just fall for it. Obviously if this was real time, this would be pretty scary to have someone saying they are you. Seeing Spencer going through all this terrible shit too is funny but wouldn’t be in real life either. Thankfully this is a movie so we can laugh about it. Although, seeing a rich person having to mingle with the poor for awhile is always amusing too.
The video quality could have been a little bit better. Some things come across as hazy or muted. Some scenes a little grainy too. For the lack of extras and other things, the picture quality could have been better. The Blu-Ray features audio commentary with screenwriter Jill Mazursky and there’s some trailers. I know I say this about Kino Lorber releases but I really wish they offer UV/ digital HD codes. Taking Care of Business is available on Vudu at least but just annoying you have to get it seperate, plus it’s $17.99 and never on sale. Ah, Disney-owned studios (Hollywood Pictures) will get you things, never on sale on digital). If you want to just own the movie on good quality Blu-Ray, then this is your thing though. Since I don’t own the movie on DVD or streaming, this will have to do for now.
Taking Care Of Business is still entertaining after all these years. Jim Belushi is having a good time in the role and the premise is silly but nothing new. Watching it again after all these years, it does feel a little dated in some ways but nothing too bad. If you don’t own this on video, now’s a good time to get it.
Features:
Audio commentary
trailers
Video:
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Subtitles:
None
Bottom Line: Entertaining movie although feels a little dated
Running Time: 108 mins
Rating: R
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: