Review of Some Like It Hot (1939) by Derek T — 11 Mar 2013

Certainly not the funniest film of all time as some may claim, but does display gender role commentary as a pretty ageless form of comedy (not to mention cross-dressing). The two buddies caught up in a lie motif reminded me of something like Wedding Crashers, but a big difference there was in the redemption of the two leads. Here, that doesn't really happen. They go with their lie all the way to the end, which feels a little bit like a cop out, and left the characters rather unlikable.

But hey, the stuff that works sure as hell works. It didn't have me consistently laughing, but there were still a lot of laughs to be had, and the inherent silliness of the concept made it a lot of fun. Parodying gender roles and the differences of men and women is a timeless sort of comedy, and the two male leads really throw themselves into their female alter-ego personalities to a remarkable degree. The big issue is that there's really nothing accomplished, nothing learned, and nothing really gained. It's mainly just a series of screwball events. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it is a comedy after all; I just would've enjoyed a bit more resolution. It's still well worth checking out. It may not be the funniest movie ever made, but if you give it a watch there's sure to be at least one thing that will make you laugh.