Two musicians are on the run from mobsters dressed as women

Rating: Null/10 (6 July 1999)

SOME LIKE IT HOT ( rating, * * * * * out of 5 )
Two out of work musicians (Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis) witness the St Valentine's Day Massacre and escape to Miami disguised as girl musicians. They both fall for the sultry ukulele player (Marilyn Monroe) and go to extraordinary lengths to win her heart - but dressed as unattractive women, this proves to be a little difficult.
Writer/director Billy Wilder with help from scriptwriter I. A. L Diamond, shape this breakthrough comedy with a new set of rules and structure. Wilder combines transvestitism, sexual chaos, slapstick mayhem, and all with sinless innocent.
Jack Lemmon is inspired with his faultless comedy-timing and when needed, a sense of the dramatic. Tony Curtis is sufficiently dashing but as a criticism, (the only one this movie warrants) the on-screen chemistry with Marilyn Monroe is non existent. The couple didn't get on behind the scenes and this translates to the final product.
Marilyn Monroe plays Marilyn Monroe beautifully which is exactly what the script requires and even though she was a tad overweight, she still manages to set hearts a fluttering and to sizzle with sensual vim and vigor.
'Some Like It Hot' bounces from one hilarious situation to the other with a succession of genuine belly laughs. The double-entendres are about as subtle as a pie in the face but this is tempered with a slightly black edge to the comedy.
With George Raft, Joe E. Brown and Pat O'Brien lurking in the background, this movie is to be cherished and absolutely delighted in. Billy Wilder made some impressive comedies, 'Sabrina', 'The Apartment', and 'The Seven Year Itch', but it's 'Some Like It Hot' that shines the brightest.
Even up against comedy contemporaries and in glorious black and white, this 1959 treasure glows like a neon beacon. At the end of the day it's gifted writing and ingenious application that makes a movie great. Billy Wilder had these talents is spades and they all come together perfectly in 'Some Like It Hot'.
Copyright: Cameron Koo, April 1996