Some Like It Hot 1959
Some Like It Hot was rated by the American Film Institute as the greatest comedy movie of all time. It is an odd list. Comedies are rarely hailed as great films and comedy rarely stands the test of time. There are some good moments in Some Like It Hot, but a lot of it feels hammy and dated. The central conceit was that having two men dress up as women would be hilarious, but it is harder to pull that off in a feature length movie than a short skit. The setup is actually decent as these two musicians see a mob hit and have to get out of town before the mob can find them. The actors playing the mobsters are absolute classics, but it is also a little tired. The musicians dress up as women for the disguise and also to get the gig in an all women jazz band on its way to Florida for an engagement. Marilyn Monroe is the ukelele player (in a jazz band?). This is pretty late in her career and she can still nail the timing of her lines, but is kind of stuck playing the straight man to Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis and has a little trouble with her song and dance numbers, so I'm not sure that director Billy Wilder took the best advantage of her talents. Even though the movie was made in 1959, Wilder still choose to make it in black and white, plus it is set in the 1920's, so it feels a little older than it really is and the earnest comedy doesn't help. I will say there is a car chase at the beginning that is amazing. Ultimately the story mostly works and the movie is enjoyable enough, but I feel like I'm stretching to give it a B+ in terms of how much I enjoyed it. It seems like you suffer through a lot of staleness for just a few good laughs. I wasn't crazy about the ending and the main romance ultimately seems to have no reason to exist.
Written: 21 Jan 2024
Owned on: Blu-ray