1028. Some Like It Hot (1959)

Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon

Director: Billy Wilder

Running Time: 120 mins

Some Like It Hot is an American film about two struggling musicians in the 1920s who, after witnessing a murder committed by the mob, attempt to escape Chicago and find a well-paying job by dressing up as women and joining an all-female band on a trip far away.

This is a fun farce of a comedy, with entertaining performances from the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, along with sharp, witty dialogue, and a silly enough story to enjoy as a simple film, however its merits as a great comedy aren’t quite there.

This is lauded as a classic nowadays, one of the most important and impressive comedies of all times, and I would definitely agree that its incredibly farcical and somewhat racy story for the time do fit that bill, however, as a properly entertaining comedy, this just isn’t really that impressive.

The problem is that the story unfolds way too slowly, there’s a little a bit of over-reliance on the running gag of Curtis and Lemmon dressed up as women, which does tire from time to time, whilst the slightly more dramatic romance story that emerges later on feels a little awkward amidst a sea of comedic silliness.

There’s no doubt that there are indeed a lot of laughs here, but they’re never really that big. It’s a film that will make you giggle on a consistent basis, and it will entertain you just as a good comedy should, but the level of comedy is neither intelligent nor idiotic enough to make it a properly funny film.

The dialogue is fun, and the zany antics of the main characters undoubtedly adds to the enjoyability of the whole thing, but again, I found it hard to really laugh well at either the wit or the slapstick here, leaving it as a definitely entertaining comedy, but not one that is a riotous laugh-fest, so that’s why it gets a 7.4 from me.