Delayed Reaction: Big Business

What I Guessed It Was About: Bette Middler and Lily Tomlin play twins. They were separated at birth. They grow up. Then they meet. Crazy things happen.

How I Came Into It: I never heard of this movie. I didn't get the title before. I don't get the title after.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Middler and Tomlin are having a lot of fun with this. They do a solid job of showing how their respective twin sets are distinct but similar. The script does splendidly at keeping track of all the moving parts involved with keeping up the ruse until the last possible moment.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: This level of farce is not a brand of comedy I enjoy much. When it can be done through honest mistakes and timing and gaps in communication, I applaud it. The British Coupling is marvelous for things like that. I remember National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze having an impressively complex series of moving parts too (then again, I saw that a decade ago and at 3 in the morning, so I reserve the right to recant that statement if I ever rewatch it). Big Business goes too far with it. The writing solution for everything is "add another coincidence" or "make sure everyone is talking as vaguely as possible". That's too easy. I'd rather be able to see the writer sweat a little.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend