A confession: I’ve never seen a Marilyn Monroe movie before watching this one. Yes, I know she’s supposed to be the most beautiful actress ever, but I just had never gotten around to it. And yes, she looks absolutely stunning in this movie as Sugar Kane, but did this movie really live up to it’s reputation as the “greatest American comedy of all time”? Not really, but it’s still a funny movie, one that people should see, and one that I enjoyed seeing.
Two hard-luck musicians are forced to disguise themselves as women to avoid being killed by the local mob, and it just so happens that they join the same musical troupe that Monroe is in. Naturally, both men end up falling for her (I mean, she’s Marilyn Monroe), but sadly, they can’t shed their disguises or they will be caught by the mob, so awkwardness (and hilarity) ensues. One of the men tries disguising himself as a millionare to woo her, but the other guy is not so lucky, and he ends up getting wooed by an actual millionare. The film’s conclusion has one of the funnier lines in history (“Well… Nobody’s Perfect”), but at the same time feels a bit like it’s lacking something. The movie definitely could have gone on another 10 minutes or so, just to completely tie up all the plot points, but instead the director made the artistic decision to end on that line. I suppose it’s more personally annoying to me than it is harmful to the movie, but it feels a little bit like a cop-out.
That said, this movie is funny, doesn’t take itself seriously, has some great music and costumes, and is worth seeing at least once.
Score: 4/5 (A 4 is a movie that I really really liked, and would definitely see again, but some very minor issues kept me from rating it as one of my favorite movies ever. It does come with my completely unqualified recommendation unless you really don’t like that particular genre of movie.)
Oberlin Film Winter Term 