Review of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) by Ben L — 09 Mar 2017

Jane Russell crushes this movie. She is delightful as the wise and sarcastic friend. I found her entire arc, including her romance with Elliott Reid, to be the highlight of the film. She also has some great song and dance numbers that are a treat. I could have used even more songs throughout it, because they were a bit spread out. If this was Gentlemen Prefer Brunettes, and she was the lead I might have loved this movie more.

Sadly, it's the ditzy blonde, Marilyn Monroe who takes the lead. I get that she's attractive, but it drives me nuts that the entire plot of this film revolves around her having such a powerful hold on every man that she can get them to do whatever she wants. It doesn't help that she is shallow to an astronomical degree and cares for money and diamonds over basically anything.

They try to portray her character as someone who exists in this gray area where you're not sure if she is actually an idiot or just playing the fool. However too many of her actions in the film betray her stupidity, so it didn't work for me. There's even a final confrontation where they try to justify her gold digging philosophy and I just shook my head.

My frustration with Marilyn and her behavior in the movie are probably making it seem like I despised Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but I did have some fun with it. There are some scenes that are hilarious, and unexpected. The music was a welcome treat, although I probably have heard Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend enough times to last a lifetime. Not a bad movie, but also not one I'll likely recommend to anyone else.