If the best jokes have the greatest punchlines, then "Some Like it Hot" is indeed the greatest comedy...

Rating: 10/10 (2 April 2012)

Is "Some Like it Hot" as funny as its reputation implies? Yes, sir. Has it aged a little? Less than more recent comedies. Is it still funny anyway? Another yes. Is it really the funniest American comedy? It sure is one of them. Is it the best? Well, according to the American Film Institute it is.
Let's get to the point now, Billy Wilder's screwball classic is not the greatest American comedy because it's the funniest, but just because it's one of the most classic among the funniest (and vice-versa). You might find "Airplane!" or "Animal House" funnier, or have a fondness for the wisecracking humor of the Marx Brothers or Mel Brooks, unless you're one of these purists who believe that nothing can beat the Silent Era pioneers, or that Woody Allen is the king of Comedy. Hell, it's also your right to find Sandler or Ferrell funnier. However, this is one comedy that will reconcile all these tastes.
Comedy is probably as old as Cinema, and that providing laughs was the first premise of filmmaking when the special effects were still missing. "Some Like it Hot" is right in the middle of Comedy's chronological map, old enough to be a classic, and modern enough to keep all its appeal toward modern audience. The film opens in the Prohibition days, in Chicago, paying tribute to classics such as "Scarface", "The Public Enemy" and "Little Caesar" with a fitting role for George Raft, as the story bad guy: Spats Domino. The plot –do I need to describe it? - involves a bass player, Jack Lemmon as Jerry, and a saxophonist, Tony Curtis as Joe, who accidentally witness a shooting that is a reminiscence of the infamous St Valentine's Day Massacre. They disguise themselves as women to be hired in a female band going to Florida. Meanwhile in the train, they meet Marilyn Monroe as Sugar, a sweet, naive and idealistic ukulele player.
If the film's setting pays tribute to old Hollywood, the content is incredibly fresh and subversive in the way it portrays women from two average Joes' point of views: as sensual and sexual objects of desire. Jerry's comment on Sugar's voluptuous body while she walks at the train station and reference to Jelly-O springs is so full of lust when it concludes by "It's a whole different sex". The film plays with cross-dressing and gender comedy with the perfect dosage of naughtiness and innocence. The part where Sugar is in the same bed as Joe aka Daphne and he keeps repeating in himself "he's a man" gives you an idea about the kind of reaction he's having, being in bed with such a beautiful instrument player. Along with "Anatomy of a Murder" and "Psycho", "Some Like it Hot" is one of the most defining examples of the agonizing days of Censorship, indeed, I would have never thought I would hear the word 'frigid' coming from Marilyn's mouth.
But beyond its modern tone, "Some Like it Hot" is mostly carried by two top-notch performances from the two leads and two strokes of genius in the casting of Marilyn Monroe as Sugar, and Joe E. Brown as the old billionaire who falls in love with Daphne in Florida. Sugar has this naivety and sweet tenderness that wouldn't have been believable if another actress played that part. Marilyn embodied this kind of personality, trusting men, victim of their lies and promises, but what lead to her demise in real-life is used for a much happier ending here. Still, there is something poignant in the way Sugar trusts the two girls, but the film never keeps that in a mean-spirited tone, especially since it's a matter of life and death for Joe and Jerry and since, Joe E. Brown steals the show in every single scene to incarnate the kind of comeuppances Jerry needed for his exuberant behavior.
"Some Like it Hot" is punctuated by countless iconic scenes, from Monroe playing her ukulele and singing "Runnin' Wild" to her "I Wanna be Loved by You" song, we're both fascinated by Monroe's sex appeal and Joe and Jerry's struggle to keep theirs intact. And the story doesn't take its plot for granted but adds a supplementary twist by introducing another romance between Jerry and Sugar. Jerry exploits Osgood's crush on Jerry to disguise himself as a 'harmless' billionaire, inviting Sugar in Osgood's yacht while the owner is dancing a frenetic tango with his sweetheart. The way the subplots interact between the last confrontation with Spats Domino is cleverly handled and plays as a fantastic tribute to Wilder's clever writing. Yet even before the last five minutes, the film is funny without having this little thing that elevates it above all the other comedies.
Many comedic films end with the conventional happy ending or the resolution, it might have a final gag or a funny bit, but hardly the highlight of the film. "Some Like it Hot" follow the principles of the greatest jokes, it can drag a long, be averagely funny, even annoying, but if the pay-off is hilarious, the joke works. Movie endings can redeem any film, but this applies even more for comedies. And in "Some Like it Hot", not only the ending is one of the greatest of any film, but if you pay attention to the dialog between Daphne and Osgood, it works as a summary of everything that went before, and the last dialog couldn't have worked without all what happened.
We all know that Daphne will sooner or later remove his wig and reveal his identity as Joe did with Sugar, but Osgood seems so casual about that the final line must be a killer, the strike of the film, its triumph, and on that level, Wilder did it again, after Norma's "close-up", "Well, nobody's perfect" are three distinct words that differentiated a funny screwball comedy to a perfect classic.