Huh. Did you not pay attention to how she was part of all the issues that Winthorp went thru.

Isn't she the only one who is willing to help Aykroyd's character when he hits rock bottom?

She gave Louis a safe haven when no one would, even if it started as a business transaction. She gave him the money he needed to take down the Dukes. (Coleman's money wasn't enough.) She was also the reason Penelope finally left him. Yes, showing her tits was gratuitous, but it was the '80s.

Are you asking why did they specifically cast Jamie Lee Curtis or why did they include the character of Ophelia? Either way, I think it’s a damn near flawless movie and don’t really understand your gripe here

it sounds like someone didn't read his assignment.

Firstly Trading Places is a great and well loved movie so that brings some attention.

I think you might be underselling her role a little. She was probably the 3rd or 4th most featured character (her and the butler).

She played a prostitute who turned out to have more decency than any of the rich bastards or most of Billy Ray’s fickle friends and I think she did that well enough for a movie of this sort. So I think she did a great job of the role.

Now I’m not naive enough to think that the fact she got her tits out made no difference, but I do think it made less than half of the difference in how this movie helped her career.

Out of all the times an actress’s body has got her more attention and praise than her actual acting talent deserved, this would be really low on my list.

She is a very important character to Winthorps plot along with developing the revenge at the end, not to mention hugely important to JLC’s career as it was her breakout non Horror role that showed how talented and fun she was

Did I watch the same Trading Places I wonder....

the "hooker with a heart of gold is an old trope.... so i can see where you might not look beyond that.

but I think.Thematically she represents true love.

The movie is all about undermining the perceptions. the rich are vain and greedy and cruel untrusting and untrustworthy. Penelope without even bothering to listen to the man "she loves" just condemns him and casts him aside.

In a world full of people who are shallow, fakes, liars, and cruel, despite the wealth and power to do good. It is Ophelia, at the very bottom of the society, who is the best, most altruistic character.

She is the only one who never betrays her ideologies, never takes advantage, never hurts anyone, she only helps and supports and and heals.

when we meet her Ophelia is hiding her true self behind her wigs and fake voice, playing a joke she thinks. but when she sees the real harm she caused she can't just walk away. she HELPS.

at first she is distant and cold and seems to want to keep her costume and her adopted "hooker" persona. a cash transaction. But why? because she is "responsible" for some of Louis' plight and she can't just walk away....as she learns Louis' story she opens up more and more...and when she takes her disguises off, along with her bra ironically, she begins to show her true self as a smart capable women with a plan. and even begins to be vulnerable.

then they grow and become friends and ultimately they fall in love. truelove that isn't hindered by her status or her past or the class divide between them...in the end after all the hijinks and gaffs and jokes and the revenge they take......she is the love of Louis' life. and they "live happily ever after" on the giant pile of money they made.

Sounds like you watched this with an agenda

Aside from what others have said, Ophelia was also the counterpart to Coleman: both of them help the two main characters navigate the very different worlds they’ve been thrust into. They’re also the only ones who treat their respective charges with basic decency and respect - Ophelia shelters Louis when his fiancée and conceited friends have abandoned him, while Coleman offers actual encouragement and support to Billy Ray whom the racist Dukes see as just a pawn in their experiment.

She's meant to emphasize the same exact point that Eddie Murphy's character emphasizes: people who work from the bottom are always smarter and tougher. Pre-bet Winthorpe would have never even looked at a girl like her. That's winthorpes lesson: he's spent his life looking up to the wrong people.

I'd say as far as comedies go, she is a relatively significant romantic lead in terms of how she sets the plot in motion and is a big part of Winthorp's emotional arc. Her kindness and affection sort of models what a real human relationship looks like to him, and while he starts by looking down on her, he quickly has a lot of his assumptions proved wrong.

I was trying to remember Freaky Friday. Wrong movie lol

Just say you don't actually remember the movie very well dude.

You could say the same thing about Arnie.

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They were some cracking knockers though , up there with Red Witch from GOT as some of the best onscreen

Nothing. She’s a shitty actor and a piece of shit.