Monkey Business

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Alan W At the NFT's Ginger Rogers season, we get a rare chance to see Howard Hawks' lesser known farcical comedy in which a heavily bespectacled Cary Grant plays Dr. Barnaby Fulton, a corporate chemist working on a formula for a youth elixir while Rogers' Edwina is his devoted and often put-upon wife who has to deal with his numerous but lovable foibles. When a lab monkey is let loose and accidentally comes up with something that not so much reverse the sign of aging, though it certainly restores Barnaby's 20/20 eyesight temporarily, but mostly allows the person who has ingested the concoction to behave like a child, (broad) comedy ensues. While this is all just an excuse to watch grown-up stars like Grant and Rogers act like unruly children and often times the film feels like an overstretched sketch in search of an ending, there's fun to be had here, and there are more than a few chuckles in young I.A.L Diamond's screenplay (polished later by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer), although there are equally moments of predictability and convoluted set-ups you can spot a mile away. Grant is a pro at this kind of role but at least there's chemistry with Rogers who seems contractually obligated to show off, though slightly crow-barred in and only briefly, her dancing skills. Charles Coburn as the boss is always fun to watch and a young Marilyn Monroe demonstrates her not often acknowledged comedic skills and timing as his dumb blonde secretary. Though in this instance it leads to at least two gloriously quotable gags that actually make her typecasting justifiable. There's nothing profound or ground-breaking here, and this is undeniably lesser, frothier Hawks in action, but it's half decent old-fashioned entertainment, perfect say, for an Easter Monday afternoon. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/16/23 Full Review david f Actually a pretty funny satire on scientists and their quest for the fountain of youth. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Love Marilyn and Cary but not in this. In fact, it's painful to watch except Marilyn is so gorgeous. The only reason to watch this dud is to see her. The script and acting are lousy. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Monkey business Cary Grant & Marilyn Monroe I like how the film credits start with Cary Grant walking out the door and narrator saying not yet. I think the chimpanzee in this film was pretty talented in the way it could mix bottles in this film in long cuts. I thought the opening credits was pretty good but was slow passed up until we get introduced to the chimpanzee in this film. Once that happened the film felt like it found it’s passing in the film. One thing that stood out to me in this film was Cary Grant’s glasses. I liked how they could make characters appear older or younger just by hairstyles or clothing. That was one aspect where this film excelled at was portraying characters differently that way. Even adding the thick glasses vs no glasses could easily portray age which was so odd that just glasses could do that for a character. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/28/20 Full Review steve d Nowhere near the sum of its parts. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member With Monkey Business, Howard Hawks expands upon many of the ideas and themes from his own Bringing Up Baby, including Cary Grant as a delightfully goofy professor, an animal companion to the classic screwball couple, and even a scene where Cary covers Ginger Roger's exposed backside like he did for Katherine Hepburn in the earlier film. Monkey Business doesn't quite reach Bringing Up Baby's level, due to a wacky, basically science fiction premise, but is still extremely funny thanks to five expert comedic performances from Grant, Rogers, Marylin Monroe, Charles Coburn and Esther the chimpanzee, clever dialogue customary of a Hawks comedy, and plenty of hilarious gags. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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