Search a film or person :
FacebookConnectionRegistration
Big Business is a american film of genre Comedy directed by Jim Abrahams released in USA on 10 june 1988 with Bette Midler

Big Business (1988)

Big Business
If you like this film, let us know!
Released in USA 10 june 1988
Length 1h37
Directed by
OriginUSA
Genres Comedy
Rating63% 3.19983.19983.19983.19983.1998

Big Business is a 1988 American comedy film farce starring Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin (each playing two roles). The movie revolves around two sets of identical female twins who were mismatched at birth, with one ending in a wealthy urban family (the Sheltons) and the other in a poor rural family (the Ratliffs). It was produced by Touchstone Pictures, with the plot loosely based on The Comedy of Errors (1589–1594) by William Shakespeare.

The film co-stars Fred Ward, Edward Herrmann and includes many guest roles including Joe Grifasi and Seth Green. Michael Gross' sister plays a small role. Directed by Jim Abrahams, critical reaction to the film as a whole was generally lukewarm. Midler received an American Comedy Award in the category Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture for her performance in 1989.

Synopsis

Sometime in the late 1940s, wealthy businessman Hunt Shelton and his heavily pregnant wife get lost in the middle of West Virginia looking for some friends' summer house when Mrs. Shelton goes into labor. They end up going to the Jupiter Hollow Hospital but the doctor will not check them in because it is exclusively for employees of Hollowmade, the local furniture maker. Mr. Shelton buys the company on the spot. The Ratliffs, an impoverished couple, arrive moments later with Mrs. Ratliff also in labor. Both women give birth to twin girls. The doctor tends both births at the same time, and the elderly nurse gets confused and mixes the babies. Mr. Ratliff overhears the Sheltons deciding to name their daughters Rose and Sadie, and suggests the same names to his wife.

Actors

Bette Midler

(Sadie Ratliff / Sadie Shelton)
Lily Tomlin

(Rose Ratliff / Rose Shelton)
Fred Ward

(Roone Dimmick)
Barry Primus

(Michael)
Michele Placido

(Fabio Alberici)
Trailer of Big Business

Bluray, DVD

Streaming / VOD

Source : Wikidata

Comments


Leave comment :

Suggestions of similar film to Big Business

There are 124 films with the same actors, 9 films with the same director, 37183 with the same cinematographic genres, 14022 films with the same themes (including 0 films with the same 6 themes than Big Business), to have finally 70 suggestions of similar films.

If you liked Big Business, you will probably like those similar films :
Top Secret!, 1h30
Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Action, Adventure, Spy
Themes Spy films, Films about music and musicians, Politique, Political films
Actors Val Kilmer, Lucy Gutteridge, Omar Sharif, Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Jeremy Kemp
Rating71% 3.5990453.5990453.5990453.5990453.599045
Nick Rivers (Kilmer), a United States rock star, has the number one song in America ("Skeet Surfing"). He travels to East Germany to perform at a cultural festival, and at a dinner, he sees the beautiful Hillary Flammond (Gutteridge), a member of the resistance movement, attempting to avoid the authorities. He pretends to be her date to get to know her, and performs an impromptu song and dance ("Tutti-Frutti") mistakenly thinking that he was asked to do so, to the delight of Hillary and the crowd but to the annoyance of the emcee who intended to introduce someone else. He later sees Hillary at a ballet, where she is trying to meet with a resistance contact, but is met by the police instead. Nick saves her and they try to escape, but Nick turns himself in so that Hillary can get away. He is taken to a prison where he is questioned and tortured, but he knows nothing and does not break. In an escape attempt, he ends up in the secret lab of Dr. Paul Flammond (Gough), a brilliant scientist developing the "Polaris naval mine", a device that can destroy the entire NATO submarine fleet; the Germans force him to work by threatening to kill his daughter Hillary. Nick is recaptured and scheduled for execution.
Ruthless People, 1h33
Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Themes Films about sexuality
Actors Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Helen Slater, Bill Pullman, Anita Morris
Rating68% 3.447873.447873.447873.447873.44787
Millionaire Sam Stone (Danny DeVito) intends to murder his hated wife Barbara (Bette Midler) to gain control of her $15 million family fortune and run off with his mistress Carol (Anita Morris). However, he is pre-empted by a phone call from an anonymous man announcing that Barbara has been kidnapped and that Sam must pay a ransom of $500,000 or she will be killed.
The First Wives Club, 1h43
Directed by Hugh Wilson
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Feminist films, Political films, Buddy films
Actors Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Bette Midler, Stephen Collins, Dan Hedaya, Victor Garber
Rating64% 3.2019753.2019753.2019753.2019753.201975
At Middlebury College in 1969, four young friends, Elise Elliot (Goldie Hawn), Brenda Morelli (Bette Midler), Annie MacDuggan (Diane Keaton), and Cynthia Swann (Stockard Channing), are graduating. As graduation gifts, valedictorian Cynthia presents the girls with matching Bulgari pearl necklaces. As the graduates take a commemorative picture of the four of them (presumably for the last time), Cynthia makes Annie, Brenda and Elise promise that they will always be there for each other throughout the remainder of their lives.
Nine to Five, 1h50
Directed by Colin Higgins
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Themes Feminist films, Political films, Buddy films, Children's films
Actors Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman, Marian Mercer, Colin Higgins
Rating68% 3.44983.44983.44983.44983.4498
Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda) is forced to find work after her husband, Dick (Lawrence Pressman), runs off with his secretary. Judy finds employment as a secretary at Consolidated Companies. The senior office supervisor, Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin), introduces Judy to the company and staff, including Mail Room Clerk Eddie , Alcoholic Margaret Foster and the sleazy Franklin Hart, Jr. (Dabney Coleman), and Roz Keith (Elizabeth Wilson), Hart's executive assistant. Violet reveals to Judy that Hart is supposedly involved with his buxom secretary, Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton). Hart exploits and mistreats his female subordinates, with backstabbing and sexist remarks. He cruelly yells at and threatens Judy on her first day after an equipment malfunction and sexually harasses Doralee, spreading rumors about an affair that never happened.
Beaches
Beaches (1989)
, 2h3
Directed by Garry Marshall
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Themes Feminist films, Political films, Buddy films
Actors Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey, John Heard, James Read, Spalding Gray, Lainie Kazan
Rating69% 3.4982853.4982853.4982853.4982853.498285
The story of two friends from different backgrounds, whose friendship spans more than 30 years through childhood, love, and tragedy: Cecilia Carol "C.C." Bloom (Bette Midler), a New York actress and singer, and Hillary Whitney (Barbara Hershey), a San Francisco heiress and lawyer. The film begins with middle-aged C.C. receiving a note during a rehearsal for her upcoming Los Angeles concert. She leaves the rehearsal in a panic and tries frantically to travel to her friend's side. Unable to get a flight to San Francisco because of fog, she rents a car and drives overnight, reflecting on her life with Hillary.
Outrageous Fortune, 1h35
Directed by Arthur Hiller
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Comedy thriller, Action
Themes Feminist films, Transport films, Political films, Road movies, Buddy films
Actors Shelley Long, Bette Midler, Peter Coyote, Robert Prosky, George Carlin, John Schuck
Rating61% 3.099273.099273.099273.099273.09927
Refined but struggling actress Lauren Ames (Shelley Long) finally has a chance to study with the great theatre professor Stanislav Korzenowski (Robert Prosky). Sandy Brozinsky (Bette Midler), a brash, loud actress, decides through happenstance to also study with Korzenowski. Lauren and Sandy take an instant dislike to each other when they first meet in Korzenowski's class, but unknown to each other, both women begin dating the same man, Michael Santers (Peter Coyote).
Swing Shift, 1h40
Directed by Jonathan Demme
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Feminist films, Political films
Actors Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Christine Lahti, Fred Ward, Ed Harris, Belita Moreno
Rating58% 2.949242.949242.949242.949242.94924
During the Second World War, Kay Walsh (Goldie Hawn) is a woman who has been assigned to work in an armaments factory in California while her husband Jack (Ed Harris), a Leading Seaman, is overseas in naval service.
The Stepford Wives, 1h33
Directed by Frank Oz
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Action, Horror, Comic science fiction
Themes Feminist films, Films based on science fiction novels, Comedy science fiction films, Political films, Robot films
Actors Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken, Glenn Close, Roger Bart
Rating54% 2.7028052.7028052.7028052.7028052.702805
Joanna Eberhart (Nicole Kidman) is a successful reality television executive producer. She is fired after her latest project, a show called I Can Do Better, where spouses choose between each other or prostitutes, results in one of the jilted men going on a shooting spree and attempts to assassinate Joanna, and she has a nervous breakdown. With her husband Walter (Matthew Broderick) and their two children, they move from Manhattan to Stepford, a quiet Connecticut suburb.
Tea with Mussolini, 1h57
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli
Origin Italie
Genres Drama, War, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Themes Politique, Political films
Actors Cher, Joan Plowright, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Lily Tomlin, Michael Williams
Rating68% 3.4472253.4472253.4472253.4472253.447225
The film begins in Florence, Italy in 1935, where a group of cultured expatriate English women — called by the Italians "the Scorpioni" — meet for tea every afternoon. Young Luca (Charlie Lucas) is the illegitimate son of an Italian businessman (Massimo Ghini) who shows little interest in his son's upbringing; the boy's mother, a dressmaker, has recently died. Mary Wallace (Joan Plowright), who works as the man's secretary, steps in to care for him, turning to her Scorpioni friends – including eccentric would-be artist Arabella (Judi Dench) – for support. Together, they teach Luca many lessons about life and especially the arts. Elsa Morganthal (Cher), a brash rich young American widow whom Scorpioni matron Lady Hester Random (Maggie Smith) barely tolerates, sets up a financial trust for Luca when she learns of the death of his mother, whom she was fond of and to whom Elsa still owed money for her dressmaking services.
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, 1h22
Directed by Brad Peyton
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Comedy, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Animation, Comic science fiction
Themes Films about animals, Comedy science fiction films, Films about cats, Films about dogs, Buddy films, Mise en scène d'un mammifère
Actors James Marsden, Nick Nolte, Christina Applegate, Fred Armisen, Bette Midler, Paul Rodriguez
Rating44% 2.21542.21542.21542.21542.2154
At a satellite base in Northern Germany, a worker named Freidrich, who is delivering secret codes finds a Cocker Spaniel puppy outside his office. He takes the puppy inside and shows it to his Bloodhound Rex. Rex senses that something is wrong with the dog and barks at it, making the worker take him outside. Both get locked out of the office. Rex looks through the window and sees the puppy taking pictures of the secret codes and revealing itself to be an evil female hairless Sphynx cat named Kitty Galore in disguise. Rex turns out to be a dog agent and reports to HQ.