utgard14
Comedy classic directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant as a research scientist who drinks a formula mixed by a monkey that makes him act younger. Soon other people are drinking it and reverting to a younger state as well, including his wife Ginger Rogers and sexy secretary Marilyn Monroe. It's a delightfully funny romp reminiscent of the screwball comedy films Hawks made in the 1930s and 1940s. Grant, Rogers, and Monroe are all great. Charles Coburn steals many scenes. He would re-team with Hawks and Monroe the following year in another classic, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Monkey Business was the fifth and final teaming of Hawks and Grant. They definitely went out on a high note. As for Marilyn, who is often advertised today as the star of the film, she makes the most of her supporting part and shows that she was more than just a pretty face or curvy figure. Definitely recommended.
pyrocitor
It's ironic that the MacGuffin of Howard Hawks' Monkey Business is a pharmaceutical 'fountain of youth,' as the film increasingly appears a tailor-made project designed to reignite the spark of genius of his past zany screwball collaborations with Cary Grant (with Grant even portraying another absent-minded professor with an animal co-star here, a-la Bringing Up Baby). On paper, everything was in place: an intriguing, and even topical premise, with the 1950s demonstrating an increasing cultural obsession with 'wonder drugs,' sterling co-stars, both established (Ginger? As in 'Fred and Ginger'?!) and new (why hello there, Miss Monroe!), and Hawks, one of the most acclaimed directors of his age. Surely Monkey Business was primed to be the most rip-roaring comedy of its time, the new pinnacle of the screwball heyday. Wasn't it? Sadly, the film itself offers a poignant metaphor for its construction: Grant's scientist, toiling away at his wonder drug, has all the right ingredients, but can't seem to cobble them together in a way to get the desired result. The film's script and editing feel rushed and piecemeal, with the film lurching between scene to scene with minimal cohesion, giving the impression the script was being constantly reworked on set (hardly an unusual practice in Classical Hollywood, but seldom this evident). Even the normally flawless Hawks flounders directorially, struggling to settle on a tone (zany or deadpan?), and settling on a languid, meandering pace that doesn't seem to fit the increasingly wacky mischief, making Grant and Rogers' youthful running wild feel oddly polite and strained. This is not to say that all is lost: the script blurts out some audaciously risqué and clever one- liners here and there, and the central premise remains novel enough to yield comedic mileage aplenty. The antics of Grant and Rogers gleefully suffering the effects of his anti-aging serum do offer moments of exquisite comedic timing (Rogers' titter when surreptitiously sliding a goldfish down Charles Coburn's pants is a comedic sight gag for the ages). On the other hand, they also forcibly rub many particularly, cringe-worthily antiquated comedic bellyflops in the viewer's face. A scene of Ginger Rogers dismissing very founded allegations of spousal abuse played off as a joke? An excruciatingly long sequence of Grant, regressed to full- fledged boyhood, painting his face and "playing Injun", whoop-whoop-whooping and all? Yeesh. It's moments like these that make contemporary viewers leery of watching "old movies". As the film ambles along to its madcap finale, Hawks finally hits his stride, delivering a climax of amiably memorable chaos, including Rogers mistaking her husband as having literally regressed into a baby, and a lab full of stuffy scientists, cackling, having a water fight while swinging from chandeliers. If the film as a whole had tapped into this same sense of energetic lunacy, Monkey Business might have lived up to its name. Instead, we conclude with a trite, disingenuous monologue about the benefits of age and maturity that feels so slapped on by the Hays Code the lens is practically clouded by the fingerprints of Joseph Breen. The audience subsequently departs feeling like the titular monkeys may have been left in charge of the editing suite. It's hard to imagine a more appropriate actor to meld bumbling pomposity with youthful sprightliness than Cary Grant, but even the screwball king is not immune to the off-kilter feeling pervading the film. The film's opening, an inspired breach of the fourth wall, has Grant attempting to walk into the scene, halted by an offscreen voice (Hawks himself, in an odd cameo) intoning "Not yet, Cary", proves oddly prophetic, as Cary never appears to be fully present in a scene, delivering his perfectly precise zingers and customary tumbling in an oddly distant, disinterested manner. While it's true that Grant on autopilot is still a more capable comedian than most others at their best, the feeling that he's never really enjoying himself certainly doesn't help the audience do so. As such, it's left to Ginger Rogers to steal the show with a hugely commanding presence, sliding between heartwarmingly caring wife to mischievously destructive, pouty girl (and the only cast member to convincingly tap into the quirks and nuances of portraying a child). The early scenes of Rogers gently coaxing the absentminded Grant into remembering to leave through the door before locking it are practically awash with a warm glow, which is perfectly shattered by her later flopping on the floor, screeching with laughter, like a caffeine-addled salmon. As support for the headliners, Charles Coburn maintains his reputation as cinema's best blusterer as Grant's hem-hemming CEO, and, though it's disappointing for Marilyn Monroe to have little to do other than suffer objectification jokes on her behalf, she still plays the wide- eyed airhead stereotype with as much class and coy timing as possible. Ultimately, however, the clear runaway star of the show is Esther the chimpanzee. The unfathomably choreographed scenes of her physical comedy interactions with the cast, and later sequences of her serenely mixing chemicals with a fluidity that would put Gene Kelly to shame, are the few moments where the film achieves an almost transcendent fascination, never to be seen in the loathsome subsequent 'animal humour' comedies polluting the 80s and onward.While Monkey Business may fizzle rather than crackle considering the almost intimidating array of talent on display, there are still many throwaway bits where the stars momentarily align and offer comedic gold. Screwball fans willing to indulge the film's somewhat lumbering tempo and wince-worthy 'product of its time' breaches of political correctness will still find enough zaniness on display to cobble together a breezily enjoyable time. Otherwise, viewers with a more sensitive palate will find the film rather like its youth serum: rather bitter, and resulting in a fairly obnoxious and forgettable cacophony of adults who should know better. -6/10
Dalbert Pringle
Monkey Business was very-Very-VERY bad comedy. This movie was garbage.Both of the aging actors, Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers gave terrible, "phone-in" performances. These 2 were a good part of the reason why this 1952 Comedy fell flat on its face into the muck of movies that are best left unwatched.Aside from the cast member of Esther, a mischievous, little chimp, it was Marilyn Monroe who was the only human actor worth any notice in this picture.Since it has been said that director Howard Hawks saw no talent in Monroe, she was wasted and reduced to playing the nothing-part of a clueless, blond, bimbo secretary who frequently showed off her legs and naively flirted with anyone in pants.This film has Esther, the chimp, (all alone in the lab) escaping from her cage (and imitating what she's seen the professor (Grant) doing), she starts mixing random chemicals together into a large beaker.As it turns out, this monkey's concoction of chemicals has a miraculous rejuvenating effect for which the professor has long been searching.Esther pours this mixture into the lab's water-cooler tank, and, it's at this point that (with everyone completely unaware of what Esther has done) all of the fun is supposed to start when the professor (as well as his wife) drink down the formula.Both Grant and Rogers put in such bad performances as the rejuvenated couple that this film's intended humor fizzled away long before it even got started.I can't believe that I actually wasted away 90 minutes of my time watching this very-Very-VERY bad garbage movie.
Alex da Silva
A monkey invents a potion that rejuvenates humans and plops it into the office water machine in a science lab. Meanwhile, chemist Barnaby (Cary Grant) has been trying to develop a youth formula for years. He drinks his latest formula but it tastes a bit off so he goes to the water cooler. Yep - he takes a drink of water and ....woah ........what's happening..? Well, he's the monkey's first victim. He starts acting 'youthful' and everyone thinks he has succeeded in inventing Life's Youth Juice. We follow Barnaby and his wife Edwina (Ginger Rogers) as they inadvertently keep consuming the monkey formula every time that they take a drink of water from the water cooler.....will the monkey get credit for the invention? The film has a cast that excites on paper but it doesn't live up to expectations. The whole beginning sequence drags - the first 15 minutes should have been thrown out. The cast are all likable but Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers are made to act out scenes that could be over in a couple of minutes as opposed to 'let's drag it out' for 10 minutes. However, opposed to the tedious, drawn out slapstick rubbish that we are offered, we are also given moments of comic genius. George Winslow, who plays one of the kids, provides laugh-out-loud entertainment with every word of dialogue that he utters. Genius.Overall, the film entertains. It has peaks and troughs. Ginger Rogers displays good balancing skills while balancing a cup of water on her forehead as she stands up and lies down and goes back to standing position. Cool trick. Cary Grant is occasionally funny, Marilyn Monroe (Lois) is also good - she's not so irritating and baby talking as usual - while Charles Coburn (Oxley) is good value as always. Check out his request for his secretary, Marilyn, to pass on the simple duty of typing to someone else other than her.It's worth watching if you can get over the crappy beginning. I don't particularly care for kids in films but George Winslow rules.
