A comedy milestone way ahead of its time

Rating: 10/10 (29 July 2006)

Some Like It Hot
The premise for a comedy film being two men dressing up as women may seem commonplace in today's day and age, where anything, no matter taboo may be thrown in for a laugh (Kevin Smith anyone?), but for it's time, the central idea for "Some Like It Hot" must have seemed pretty risqué. Fortunately enough, director Billy Wilder really knows what he's doing, as he handles the somewhat delicate subject matter with a deft and confident hand, not overplaying the concept but instead extracting as many laughs as he can from it while still remaining totally tasteful, which in turn just makes the joke so much richer.
The script is without a doubt one of the wittiest and best constructed of all time, with tons of wonderful back and forth exchanges between Lemmon and Curtis, and the period dialogue, with names like "Spats Columbo" and "Toothpick Charlie" is a treat to listen to. The period feel of great depression era costumes and sets are also excellent - all together, a very convincing feel of the time period. Not to mention that there is an actually suspenseful car chase, a cinematic rarity for the time.
But more than anything else, the talking point is how entertaining and funny the whole film is. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are hilarious and charming as the two beleaguered leads, forced to masquerade as female musicians to save themselves from the mob. Marilyn Monroe has also never looked so beautiful, and despite the stories of the ridiculous number of takes it took her to get her lines right, in the final cut she comes across as fairly natural, even raising several laughs. The supporting cast also give great performances and manage to also raise many laughs, especially Joe E. Brown with the closing line "Nobody's perfect", which has to be one of the most memorable conclusions in film history.
All in all, Some Like It Hot survives the cinematic test of time by coming across as just as funny when viewed currently as it must have been back in the 50s. The acting is wonderful, and Curtis and Lemmon have terrific chemistry together, and iconic Marilyn never fails to dazzle us. On a long night in need of a laugh or several, Some Like It Hot is most definitely worth a viewing - it is certainly more tasteful and unexpectedly hilarious than most contemporary comedies!
-10/10