10 Movie Titles With Double Meanings Everyone Missed
7. Trading Places
Trading Places is a fairly on the nose comedy which is rich with laughs and a little bit of schmaltz, but not that much subtext or substance. Nevertheless, it does contain a fairly clever pun within the title, one which is often missed too.
The movie is essentially a modern day (or ‘80s, at least) take on Mark Twain’s The Prince And The Pauper, raising the question of nature versus nurture. As part of a bet, two unwitting people with completely different lives have their status’ swapped (they trade places) in the interest of an experiment.
A wealthy broker is made penniless and turned out of his job, while a homeless man is given his house and position at his firm to see how either of them get on in these new situations or places in life.
The other meaning though concerns the movie’s setting. Taking place largely in and around a commodities brokerage firm in Philadelphia; literally a trading place. While it’s clear that the idea of switching lives is at the forefront of the title Trading Places, the fact it takes place at a brokerage firm can’t be ignored.