Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

Tonight! Loring Park! 8:45 p.m.

The Billy Wilder romantic comedy factory reached a climax with SOME LIKE IT HOT, a delightful transvestite farce that features a gorgeous and charming Marilyn Monroe. The beauty of these Wilder films is that they push the envelope so much from the usual "Leave it to Beaver" fluff of the '50s. Every one of these comedies involves premarital or extramarital sex, or the desire thereof, as part of its plot. While most other films ignored this very human distinction, Wilder turns it into great entertainment that still seems more or less wholesome.

Who else in the '50s exemplifies the dichotomy between sex and wholesomeness than Monroe? The woman posed for Playboy and slept with the president but still seems like such an innocent child, especially here. As the victim of countless deceptions and advances from men, she comes out naive and making the same mistakes over and over again. We sympathize with her from the beginning, although we completely understand Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon's desire to score with her. I mean, she's Marilyn Monroe!

[...] the two musicians put on dresses and high heels and join the girls band. As with any movie cross-dressers, they look nothing like the opposite sex, but we have to suspend our disbelief enough to accept that no one else can see through this disguise, least of all Monroe who, as the band's singer Sugar, is a dim-bulb and an alcoholic. In these surroundings, Lemmon says he feels "like a kid in a candy store."

Curtis and Lemmon both begin pursuit of Monroe, in and out of drag. Curtis, after a girl-to-girl talk with Monroe about what she's looking for in a man, masquerades as a visiting millionaire. Meanwhile, Lemmon has a lusty old man to contend with. This being the '50s, the only goal of any of these women is to get married. After the old guy proposes to Lemmon, Lemmon considers going through with it because he probably won't ever get another chance to marry someone that rich.

Is anyone interested in seeing this? It's funny!

If so, stop by my apartment, bring blankets, call, whatever....