Rent Monkey Business (1952)

Going Back in Time - Monkey Business review by CH

Written by associates of Billy Wilder and directed by Howard Haws, who was never one to slacken the pace, this is a return to the screwball trends of the previous two decades. As with those, the premise is slight, even preposterous: Cary Grant, married to Ginger Rogers, is on the track of a rejuvenation liquid at a labatory where a secretary is Marilyn Monroe: another early part to which she beings brio - although there are moments when all the cast is outclassed by a chimp and even by a (human) baby. Do not inger over the illogic of it all, but relish one surreal scene after another - and help Grant look for his spectacles.

Neo-Screwball Comedy. - Monkey Business review by Steve

It's obvious in the opening scene that Howard Hawks sees this as a tribute to '30s screwball comedy when Ginger Rogers wears a dress with no back, revealing her lingerie... like Katherine Hepburn in the director's 1938 landmark, Bringing Up Baby. And two of the writers (Hecht and Lederer) are legends of screwball. Though the script is the main problem.

The premise is fine. Cary Grant- Ginger's husband- is a biologist researching an elixir of youth. But one of the lab monkeys escapes and mixes one that really works, and puts it in the water cooler... and mayhem ensues. Inspiration however soon runs dry and the audience must watch Grant, the greatest ever male screen comedy actor, goof around like Lou Costello.

Which is still ok because he makes it surprisingly funny. But, what a waste. The laughs disappear when he's off screen, though Marilyn Monroe illuminates the picture as Charles Coburn's sexy secretary. This is the one where he asks her to find someone to type a letter... She was still not yet a star, but unmissably ready to go.

There's satire at the expense of postwar teenagers aimed at an older audience. And the stars reflect on the passing years, and evoke the golden age of screen comedy. But classic screwball is a romance that ends at the church; this is about the married couple facing up to middle age. For the genre, as well as their relationship, it's never as good as the first time.