MovieChat Forums > Trading Places (1983) Discussion > The house party - a couple of questions....

The house party - a couple of questions...

posted 9 years ago by user-153
4 replies | jump to latest

Just watching this classic again (well, it IS Christmas...)

A couple of things struck me as odd about the party scene (when Billy Ray has just been recruited):

Not the girls taking their tops off. That just struck me as tasteless and unnecessary, but

1. Why does the pimp say words to the effect of 'that's my girl over there'? How does that advance the story?

2. The final girl to get her coat, who looks straight at the camera at least twice. Surely there's no reason for that kind of terrible acting here?

[–] mitzibishi 9 years ago

I always thought about the girl getting her coat at the end, she wasnt shown at the party and she practically winks at the camera, she must have knew the somebody and got a cameo for some reason.

[–] Soodinum 9 years ago

Must have knew the somebody? What?

[–] Quigleysquest 9 years ago

We just watched this movie tonight, and noticed that Eddie Murphy also looked directly at the camera several times. This is called breaking the fourth wall, a tool movie makers use to eliminate the imaginary wall for the actor to connect with the audience in an unexpected way. So if the actress also looked at the camera, it may have just been planned by the director.

[–] DracTarashV 9 years ago

1. Is it supposed to? It's just a random line (sort of) by a random character. No biggie.

2. As another user said, she was breaking the fourth wall. But was it planned? Well, considering Murphy looks directly at the camera more than once (felt odd for some reason), there's a good chance it was. Why? I don't know, but it's delightful.

Hey there, Johnny Boy, I hope you fry!