Monkey Business (1952) User Reviews

More fun than a barrel of monkeys...

[gaityr · 8/10 · 31 March 2002]

Buoyed by the tremendous energy of Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers, MONKEY BUSINESS is a charming throwback to the screwball era of the 1930s and 40s. You know that you're being asked to leave reality behind and just settle back for a good laugh the second the film begins, especially when the narrator repeatedly warns Cary from beginning the film before the credits are done rolling! Directed with great skill by Howard Hawks (mastermind of brilliant films such as 'Bringing Up Baby' and 'His Girl Friday'), the film shares the trademark rapidfire dialogue and zany situations typical of most Hawksian comedies. As always, following the conversation between the characters is more than enough to leave the viewer breathless... One example, out of so many, is the scene in Room 304, when young!Edwina loses her temper and the couple squabble about Hank Entwistle and she finally locks Barnaby out of the room--to hilarious and painful effect!

As with most screwball comedies, the premise of the film must first be accepted, since the entire film is a logical development from the original (zany) premise. In 'Monkey Business', Barnaby Fulton is working on the development of some kind of youth elixir, which he is testing on chimpanzees. Unbeknownst to him, one of his test subjects escapes his cage and successfully concocts the potion, leaving it in the water fountain. Of course, when Barnaby tests the potion on himself, he drinks some water to get the bitter taste out of his mouth--and almost immediately becomes about 20 years old mentally and physically. Before the elixir wears off, Barnaby gets a funky new haircut, coat and car, all with his boss' sexy young secretary (Marilyn Monroe, who else?) at his side. His wife Edwina (Ginger Rogers) then gets in on the action, taking some of the elixir to allow Barnaby to make scientific observations about someone else's reaction to it. It isn't long before she drags her husband to their honeymoon hotel, dances the night away, and impetuously starts divorce proceedings when he upsets her. The ending is a terrific exercise in belief-suspension, as the rejuvenated Barnaby and Edwina (simultaneously, this time) engage in paint wars, hair-pulling and scalping.

The best part of the film really would have to be the central performance given by Cary Grant as Barnaby Fulton. He's evidently one of Hawks's favourite actors, and for good reason too--he makes the trippiest of dialogue sound perfectly natural, and plays science-geeks and debonair reporters equally convincingly. With Barnaby, the viewer is instantly reminded of David Huxley, a role Cary Grant infused with life about 15 years ago in Bringing Up Baby. Just as David is kickstarted to life by Susan, Barnaby is youthened by the elixir, and in both films, it's a delight to watch the transformation take place. Initially, Grant's Barnaby is as stuffy as you can imagine a scientist--he's absent-minded and somewhat stern; in effect, all 'grown-up'. But the moment the youth elixir kicks in, the change is miraculous yet believable. Watch in delight as Barnaby flips an effortless cartwheel; drives like a daredevil; and conducts an entire chorus of children in a rousing war song. The 'joie de vivre' that Grant infuses his character with is almost palpable.

Cary Grant is also capably matched by Ginger Rogers in their second film together. Her ability to turn into a little girl is charming in the extreme, and you can see the years drop off her in her final stint as young Edwina... it's so evident that she's having fun as she tap-dances through the hotel, or flips rubber bands at people, chews gum, and scribbles "Barnaby loves Edwina" across the conference room chalkboard.

In general, the film itself is a little uneven: it has brilliant and hilarious moments, but you definitely get the feeling that much of the film is coasting on the considerable energy and skill of its cast--a splendid Cary Grant, a lovely Ginger Rogers, and an intriguingly young Marilyn Monroe. You probably won't be in too much of a hurry to rewatch this film once you've seen it the first time, but there's really no reason to put off your first viewing... so what are you waiting for?

Give this one ape for effort

[Steve-318 · 8/10 · 6 July 2003]

Thoroughly enjoyable comedy with Cary Grant as the absent-minded professor who's messing around looking for the fountain of youth. Ginger Rogers gets to dance a little without Fred Astaire plus demonstrate a wonderful comic style as she mixes it up with Marilyn Monroe. It's 1952 but you wouldn't know it (except for Marilyn's presence). Howard Hawks takes you back to the good old days when Hollywood demonstrated total mastery of time and space with the screwball comedy.

Along with monkeyshines and child actors, you really get a lot in this film: Grant and Rogers play off each other very nicely and the driving scene with Monroe and Grant is a classic. Adding to the hijinx is Charles Coburn, who always dominates the screen with his easy charm. I bet he loved chasing after Monroe with a spray bottle.

The movie holds up well over 50 years later which makes one wonder why Hollywood hasn't, cringe, chosen to ape the storyline for Jim Carrey or maybe Tom Hanks, who might be looking for a comic turn these days.

But then they remade Freaky Friday this summer, didn't they?

The Fountain Of Youth In Your Water-cooler

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 21 January 2008]

Monkey Business Cary Grant's second film with Ginger Rogers and his fourth and final film for director Howard Hawks has him reaching back into some of the lunacy of his previous work like Arsenic and Old Lace. Not since that madcap piece was Grant ever so frantic on the screen.

Ginger Rogers doesn't yield one inch of screen ground to him in that department though. In The Major and The Minor she faked being a teenage girl very convincingly and in this film she and Cary go back even farther in their return to adolescence.

Cary is a research scientist who is working on that eternal quest for the fountain of youth. A chimpanzee gets loose from her cage and mixes some chemicals and dumps the result in the water-cooler. Everyone thinks it's what Cary's concocted and the company bigwigs led by Charles Coburn and Larry Keating try to get it from him, but in his adolescent state it's no avail.

Monkey Business does meander over into just plain outright silliness, but with Cary and Ginger you don't really mind. I do so love the way Cary with a gang of kids he's playing Indians with leave poor Hugh Marlowe tied to a tree ready for a scalping because the wolfish Marlowe's been making moves on Ginger.

Second to that is Charles Coburn and Ginger Rogers trying to talk to an infant who they think Cary has morphed into. Coburn may have been one of the screen's greatest actors, he'd have to have been to hold his own with that baby. Note the dignified expression on his face never leaves.

Of course Monkey Business is also known for having one of Marilyn Monroe's early screen roles in it on her way up. She's Coburn's secretary and note the expression on Coburn's face as she is showing Grant the result of his work on a no run stocking.

Monkey Business is second tier stuff for Grant, Rogers, and Hawks, but fans of all three will like it and quite a few more than those people.

Good Fun

[Snow Leopard · 31 October 2002]

This is a very good movie to watch when all you want to do is to have a good time and some good laughs. There isn't a minute of it that would hold up to logical analysis, but there's barely a minute of it that isn't fun to watch. The story is pleasantly zany, the characters are entertaining, and the stars were all perfectly chosen for their roles.

Hawks's opening gag with Cary Grant in the doorway sets the tone, and lets you know right away that you can sit back and not take anything seriously for a while. Grant's character, a somewhat befuddled scientist who is trying to come up with a "youth formula", is the kind of role he could play in his sleep. As Grant's wife, Ginger Rogers doesn't get much to do for a good while, but then she has some fine comic moments later on. Charles Coburn is perfect as Grant's boss, and he gets a couple of the best lines in the whole show. And who better than Marilyn Monroe to play Coburn's secretary?

It's an entertaining throwback to the screwball comedies of a slightly earlier era. "Monkey Business" may be no masterpiece, but it's good fun of the pleasantly offbeat kind that is rare anymore.

Entertaining because of its star power

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 13 June 2019]

It's worth the price of admission to see Marilyn Monroe showing her leg to a nerdy Cary Grant early on, and then tool around with him in a sports car and go roller skating with him, which they do after he's taken a youth potion accidentally created by one of his lab chimps. As you might guess, there are some pretty silly things in the script, but it's a cute story, and to see Grant and Ginger Rogers carrying on as young adults and later children tickled me too. It seems to me that the film may have served as the inspiration for other films, like 'The Nutty Professor, and some of its content may have seemed fresher in 1952, but it's still entertaining because of this star power. In smaller parts, the performance from the chimpanzee is impressive, and I also liked child actor George Winslow, who deadpans his lines in that heavy voice of his. Lastly, it made me smile to hear Grant and Rogers alluding to rediscovering memorable nights of passion from when they were younger, in that restrained but sexy way of the period. There are some nice lines at the end too: "You're old only when you forget you're young. ... It's a word you keep in your heart, a light you have in your eyes, someone you hold in your arms."

Screwball comedy with magnificent interpretations from Grant and Rogers

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 4 May 2005]

The picture centers upon a scientist (Gary Grant) and his wife (Ginger Rogers) , he discovers a potion with extraordinary effects making younger themselves . He is testing the rejuvenating formula on a chimp turning nutty . This film is an underlying screwball comedy united to : ¨Bringing up baby¨ , ¨Ball of fire¨ and ¨His girl Friday¨ , all of them by the trio : Gary Grant-Gary Cooper-Howard Hawks and they are splendid .

In the movie there are comedy , tongue-in-cheek , joy , giggles and is pretty amusing . From the initiation to the final the humor is unstopped . Gary Grant and Ginger Rogers' interpretations are top notch , both of whom are awesome comedy actors . Ginger Rogers is the number one as dancer actress , besides a fascinating comedian and she achieved an Academy award as main actress for her portrayal in ¨Kitty Foyle , natural history of a woman¨ . The support cast is first range , are the veteran Charles Coburn and a newcomer Marilyn Monroe who at her playing as an attractive and charming secretary demonstrates experience like future first star . Excellent storyline by Ben Hetch and L.A.I. Diamond , they're Billy Wilder's habitual writers . Howard Hawks' direction is very good , Hawks has classics on every genre , thus : noir genre (The big sleep) , Western (Rio Bravo) and comedy (Monkey business) . The yarn will appeal to comedy enthusiasts and Gary Grant fans . Rating: Above average . Well worth seeing.

Very funny

[The Movie Buff · 7/10 · 13 May 2002]

This movie contains a part that is one of the funniest I have ever seen. It is when Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers get called into the board of directors room and they both are acting like children, having both taken the formula without knowing it. To top it all off, the monkey was on the ceiling throwing light bulbs.

Overall it was a very funny movie, clever, yet far-fetched. I would rate this as one of Cary Grants best performances. Ginger Rogers was also very good. However for some reason there wasnt enough Marilyn in this movie. I few parts that she was in, she was very funny. I don't know why she only played a small role in this movie. Her funniest line was at the beginning when the boss told her to go to every ford dealership and look for Barnaby. Her reply was, "Which one do you want me to do first."

It was a funny movie with parts that will have you on the floor.

In my opinion, this is a silly opinion

[vert001 · 9/10 · 28 September 2016]

It's a matter of opinion, but you could say that Howard Hawks closed out the classic Screwball Comedy period with MONKEY BUSINESS the way that Orson Welles closed out the Film Noir movement with TOUCH OF EVIL. For Cary Grant, his research chemist in MONKEY BUSINESS is practically a continuation of his archaeologist in Hawks's earlier BRINGING UP BABY. There are also animals playing important roles in the plots of these films, but otherwise the movies are very different. MONKEY BUSINESS is something of a one joke fantasy (a chimp concocts a fountain of youth mixture), but this one joke is played out as an elaborate and building 'theme and variations' which is often inspired even if it does go on a bit too long. The film advances steadily, if that's not a contradiction, into ever crazier territory, beginning with an underplayed deadpan scene between absentminded scientist Grant and his patiently understanding wife Rogers and progressing into the crosscut surrealism of Grant's 'scalping' of his rival while leading a band of child 'Indians' while Rogers is mistaking an infant for her husband! It's not to everyone's taste, but catch it in the right mood and this is downright hilarious.

If Cary Grant wasn't the finest light comedian that film has ever produced, he was extremely close. He plays confused like no one else, and MONKEY BUSINESS is inconceivable without him. Ginger Rogers also was an expert hand at verbal wit as well as slapstick, and an old hand at comically playing younger than her actual age. She may have gone over-the-top in places, but she also provided many funny moments. Marilyn Monroe was expert at playing dumb blondes and thus is perfectly cast, and Charles Coburn is always a welcome face in a movie.

MONKEY BUSINESS was something of a disappointment at the box office, though not the utter disaster that BRINGING UP BABY had been, and perhaps for this reason Howard Hawks always expressed dissatisfaction with it. Never one to take the blame for inadequacies, he seems to have singled out Ginger Rogers as his 'whipping girl' for this one. Hawks had wanted the younger Ava Gardner to play Cary Grant's wife and Grant had vetoed it, not wanting to have love scenes with an actress young enough to be his daughter (a common occurrence in movies of the fifties, including Grant's movies). Casting the 41-year-old Rogers was Grant's suggestion, and though Hawks acquiesced, multiple sources tell us that he treated her coldly during the shoot. His claim that she dictated disastrous changes in the script is doubtful to say the least as Ginger Rogers in 1952 had no power to dictate anything to either Howard Hawks or to any film studio. In my opinion, Hawks was lucky to have her.

MONKEY BUSINESS isn't the best movie that any of its principals were involved with, but it remains entertaining 64 years after it was made. A fitting end for the great Screwball Era.

Good Movie because of Talent

[Yose · 6/10 · 26 December 2006]

The movie Monkey Business could have been pretty bad. I would say that it's saving grace is the fact that the people involved are all highly talented. Howard Hawks turns in some excellent direction per usual, although I'm sure he was only paying the bills. Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers are pitch perfect. Marilyn Monroe is essentially eye candy in this movie but she still steals every scene she is in, which unfortunately isn't very many.

The script was written by the highly respected Ben Hecht , Charles Lederer (of His Girl Friday fame) and I.A.L. Diamond (Some Like It Hot etc...). With so many excellent writers involved you know the script is going to be at least decent. Granted that a monkey discovering a potion for the fountain of youth is a pretty silly premise they managed to pull it off for the most part. The dialog is a bit awkward in places but overall very good and the script certainly got it's message across.

Cary Grant's performance makes this film. He perfectly embodies what a typical teenager and child of the age would be. Of course the scenes in which he takes the potion are the highlights of the film and he does an excellent job with them. He also has considerable chemistry with his female costars particularly Ginger Rogers (Who plays his wife).

Marilyn Monroe plays Grant's bosses slightly dim but wonderfully innocent secretary. Although she has limited screen time you cannot take your eyes off of her anytime she is in the shot. The sign of a great actress.

Overall a very charming film with a feel good message. 7/10

"If one hundred monkeys typed on one hundred typewriters for forty years..."

[theowinthrop · 8/10 · 5 December 2006]

Basically this nice little comedy by Howard Hawks is based on the urban legend that I used in the summary line: If you put a certain number of monkeys in front of type writers, for a long period of time, eventually you are going to get the complete works of Shakespeare, the King James Bible, War and Peace, Little Women, etc. This urban legend is based on probabilities, but whether it is true or not is something nobody is really prepared to attempt (it would be too difficult to monitor and too expensive and too long). Here the whole idea is that an overly observant chimpanzee in a laboratory might be able to mix the elixir that regains lost youth or zest.

Howard Hawks had directed several comedies with Cary Grant, and Grant's Dr. Barnaby Fulton seems like a cousin of Dr. David Huxley, the hapless paleontologist in Hawks' 1938 comedy "Bringing Up Baby". Huxley is a child in handling the madcap heiress Susan who is pursuing him no matter what. Fulton is not as helpless as that, but he does have some similarities. He wears eyeglasses (like Huxley), and he can seem somewhat absent minded like Huxley. Fulton has attracted the attention of Miss Laurel (Marilyn Monroe), the secretary of Mr. Oxley (Charles Coburn). When Fulton goes to see Oxley for a brief conference, Ms Laurel tries to lure his attention by showing him her lovely leg - supposedly demonstrating her new nylons using a process he's invented. Fulton looks at her leg closely, but clinically regarding the success of the unbreakable nylon process.*

Ginger Rogers too showed some fragments of her past screen career as Edwina Fulton. She constantly wants to go dancing, and when she drinks the rejuvenating formula she starts doing some nice dance steps (reminding us of her days with Astaire, but even of her work in the Busby Berkeley musicals of the 1930s). At one point when she has taken too much of the formula she is suddenly 10-12 years old, and we see a repeat of her "Sue-Sue" Applegate in "The Major And The Minor".

Grant works for a corporation headed by Coburn and Larry Keating. They have been prospering from Grant's chemical inventions and patents, but Coburn is particularly interested in this rejuvenation formula. It is supposed to make a man feel decades younger and vigorous again. As Coburn has the beautiful Monroe as a secretary with indifferent skills (he hands her a paper to have someone else type, and when she protests to get another chance to type it instead, he gently explains it is too important - "Anyone can type!", he says to Grant) it is obvious that if the formula works he will be using it to pursue Monroe. Coburn is so desperate he wants to convert the entire factory to just produce the rejuvenation formula if it succeeds.

Grant is not too happy - he's been working for two years on the formula and there has been no success yet. He leaves the monkey cage open, and a female chimpanzee (who has been watching Grant mix the formula) throws the chemicals together and hides it within the water cooler. And every time the formula that Grant makes is tried, the guinea pig (Grant, Rogers, whoever) takes a drink of water to help make it palatable. And, of course, it is the unknown concoction of the monkey that actually sets off the rejuvenation.

The film follows the good and bad points of rejuvenation. Yes it does make a person more vigorous and able to do things that he hasn't been able to do for years (Grant does a cartwheel at one point). But it makes the user unreasonable to others who are not similarly peppy - Rogers thinks that Grant is a drag, as he doesn't take the concoction when they go out back to the hotel they honeymooned in. She is ready to jitterbug, and he's collapsing. And if too much is taken you become emotionally immature, leading to Grant arranging the scalping of his former rival (Hugh Marlowe) by some real kids.

The film has some nice little bits in it. An immature Grant is asked for the "secret ingredient" to his formula. How much, Coburn asks him, for the formula? "I want a zillion dollars!", Grant says - which he claims is a trillion million. And when he is trying to arrange the scalping of Marlowe, one of the youths (George Winslow) keeps bringing him down to earth by reminding him they need a war dance if they are going to scalp anyone!

Probably not on par with "Bringing Up Baby" or "His Gal Friday", but it was a good comedy for all that.

*However, later on, when he's taken the rejuvenating formula, Fulton does recognize Ms Laurel by her legs under a sign - suggesting that the attractiveness of her legs did make an impact on him.

Funny

[LeRoyMarko · 7/10 · 2 April 2001]

This is a good movie featuring Cary Grant as the scientist who found a rejuvenating formula. Follows a series a wacky adventure for professor Fulton and his wife, played by Ginger Rogers. Top notch performances by Grant and Rogers, but also by Charles Coburn and beautiful Marilyn Monroe. And let's not forget the monkeys!

7 out of 10.

A sheer delight from start to finish

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 18 January 2011]

I love this film. I do prefer His Girl Friday, but this movie is wonderful. The production values are top notch, with lovely cinematography and costumes. The pace is snappy, and the story is wonderfully constructed with seldom a dull moment. Monkey Business is also brilliantly directed by Howard Hawks, the writing is superb and the acting is top notch. I have always loved Cary Grant, he was a very charming, urbane and likable actor, and he is sublime here. Ginger Rogers is also very good, it shows that she is just as good as acting as she is at dancing. It is Marilyn Monroe though who steals the show, very beautiful and sassy, she is delightful in Monkey Business. All in all, this movie is a delight and definitely worth the look. 10/10 Bethany Cox

"You're old only when you forget you're young."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 4 March 2017]

I guess there's a fine line between screwball comedy and slapstick. This one came down a bit more on the slapstick side once it got going and left me somewhat unsatisfied, even with the caliber of players in the lead roles. Cary Grant was a veteran of these kinds of pictures, but for a better definition of 'screwball', you'd have to check him out in "Bringing Up Baby" or "His Girl Friday", both from a decade earlier.

Something occurred to me as I watched this and I never mentioned it before, but there's always a first time. Have you ever noticed, no matter how big the star or their celebrity appeal, it all seems to go by the boards when they step into a 1950's era kitchen and the appliances make things feel so outdated. That's the first thing that hit me when the Fulton's (Grant and Ginger Rogers) entered their home for the first time. Not that it bothers me because that's just the way things were, but it's something of a shocker when you see it today considering all the modern gadgetry we have available now. Just an observation.

Now Marilyn Monroe, it didn't help her real life persona to be cast in a role like this because she had to carry that dumb blonde personality around all throughout her short career. If she had gotten more roles like the her character Roslyn Taber in "The Misfits", well, who knows, her self esteem might have taken her on an entirely different course. As it is, we'll never know.

So getting back to the story, we come to find out that at least in this case, the old fountain of youth is not all that it's cracked up to be, especially when monkeyshines are involved. Speaking of which, I wish the chimp who performed here was credited for the role, it had the best facial expressions of any I've ever seen, and that would include Cheeta from all those Tarzan flicks of old. You know, Cheeta lived to the ripe old age of seventy nine, so when Barnaby described 'Rudolph' as being eighty four, the writers wouldn't have been too far off the mark. But then again, they had 'Esther' on screen, so who would ever know?

After all the hi-jinx, the story finally comes around to the message we probably all were waiting for, that is, the idea expressed in my summary line delivered by Barnaby Fulton. Another way of expressing it would have been the way Barnaby replied to Miss Laurel (Monroe) when she asked him if his motor was running - "Is yours?"

Something went wrong with "the formula"...only Marilyn shines...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 24 March 2005]

The cast includes some of the top masters of screwball comedy and is directed by the man who made BRINGING UP BABY--and yet this is not the bright and witty farce it strains to be.

Ironically, it's MARILYN MONROE, in the film's smallest role as a dimwit secretary, who steals the spotlight from CARY GRANT, GINGER ROGERS and CHARLES COBURN whenever she pops up...which isn't often enough. Superstardom was just around the corner and this film is proof that Monroe had the kind of charisma that charms even when her dialog is not that funny.

CARY GRANT does well in most of his scenes but the Indian romp with the boys is too unbelievable even for this far-fetched comic spoof. At times, he seems almost detached from his role. Poor HUGH MARLOWE looks mighty uncomfortable as a victim of the "let's play Indian" stunt. So much so, that one can only picture him wishing he was back in ALL ABOUT EVE.

GINGER ROGERS has an irritating sequence where she and Cary revisit their honeymoon hotel with disastrous results when she goes into a crying jag over the mention of her mother's name. Ginger only perks up when imitating an even more youthful version of her "Major and the Minor" role--but she is given only brief moments to shine. Coburn plays his role effortlessly and is especially amusing when referring to his secretary's lack of skills. "Anyone can type", he says of Monroe as she wriggles away.

But true wit is missing for most of the film and the laughs come at the expense of the two main stars who show a surprising lack of chemistry when thrown together.

The formula just doesn't work here. Something went wrong and it shows.

Enjoyable fun

[sychonic · 17 May 2001]

If you like good solid wacky comedy, this is a strong bet. An utterly silly movie, it makes me smile just thinking about it--I've seen it probably a dozen times. Cary Grant really was in a class by himself, managing to do virtually every genre, even though he seems to have been typecast by movie history--here he plays a hopelessly stuffy absent minded professor, after drinking a youth serum of improbable origin, he immediately becomes a teen ager from the early fifties. Changing on a dime, the transformation is hilarious.

Ginger Rogers, always really engaging, isn't give a lot to do as an adult, but she excels when regressing into a juvenile.

One thing--for anyone who really likes Marilyn Monroe (and who doesn't), this is a must see. Not because it's her best part, or because she has a lot of screen time, it isn't and she doesn't. But since she made this movie really before she became famous, it's instructive: the part is just another ditzy bombshell secretary, but something about her just jumps off the screen. This seems to me to be a great example of how there's an ineffable unexplainable quality of "screen presence". She manages to hold her own with Cary Grant, not an easy task for anyone, let alone some yet to be discovered starlet.

Now that we're in a gross out downward spiral for comedies, this might be the best tonic--a movie that's very silly, and very funny.

Monkey Business review

[renegadeviking-271-528568 · 7/10 · 31 March 2021]

Marilyn Monroe or Ginger Rogers, tough choice, but if some serum allows me the chance to get with Marilyn and not worry about the consequences you know what I'm doing!

By 1952 the screwball comedy was a dying breed, many more would still be made but the heyday of the screwball comedy ended in the mid-1940's. I believe Monkey Business is a good indicator of why the screwball comedy era ended. Monkey Business is a good movie, don't get me wrong, and it is funny, but you can only try for the same joke so many times. The first time you see it, it's pretty funny, the second time it's moderately funny and by the third time it's only funny in singular moments.

Cary Grant built a career around screwball comedies, which is funny to realize because I never think of him that way, yet his resume is littered with screwball comedies. He has great chemistry with Ginger Rogers, and they are both very good, but unsurprisingly the stand out of the cast is Marilyn Monroe. She is hardly in the picture, but she steals every scene she is in. The camera understands her and it understands how to film her. It utilizes her sex appeal to the fullest and the script makes utmost use of Monroe's penchant for comedic timing. That's not to say she is the driving force of the movie, because without the chemistry between Grant and Rogers there is no Monkey Business, but when onscreen she outshines the rest of the cast.

As it stands Monkey Business is a film full of moments that miss their mark and moments that are funny. Monkey Business is more along the lines of a movie that can be distilled down to a few moments rather than a cohesive whole. The conversation between Rogers and Grant after he has first come down from his concoction is funny, Rogers acting like an eight year old isn't. The kids war party is very funny, the sequences with the monkey not no much. Rogers and Grant are funny when dealing with the baby, the rest of the staff succumbing to the potion fails to register any laughs. And so on and so forth, Monkey Business is a film defined by the jokes that work and the ones that don't.

This isn't the film that you need to go out and see, but it is a must for any Marilyn Monroe fan. There is a good amount of witty sexual dialogue, and the movie is surprisingly better in the moments of smart comedy rather than the moments of screwball comedy, oh and don't forget that awful rear projection car crash! But, Monkey Business is funny, it may lose its steam and fall flat at times, but on the whole it is funny and that's all you need from a movie like this.

Uneven comedy

[fletch5 · 7/10 · 21 September 2000]

I found "Monkey Business" to be an uneven comedy. It offers many hilarious and memorable moments (the monkey preparing the formula, for instance), but there are also a number of scenes which come to a standstill; many of them are the ones involving the professor and his wife. Cleverly written dialogue provides most of the fun, and the film leaves an overall good feeling. Considered a classic.

Monroe Dazzles Despite the Silliness

[dglink · 6/10 · 28 October 2010]

A stellar cast that includes Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, and a chimpanzee, direction by Howard Hawks, and a screenplay by Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer, and I.A.L. Diamond, what could possibly go wrong? Plenty. Perhaps considered hilarious in 1952, "Monkey Business" is hopelessly dated, occasionally amusing, and often just plain silly. An absent minded professor, who seems more demented than distracted, concocts a mysterious formula that causes people to act younger. Of course, the formula is tested and gets loose via a water cooler. Stir in the chimp, a bunch of kids, and a baby, and the results are generally less than funny.

A chasm yawns between acting childlike and acting childish. In "Big," Tom Hanks beautifully captured the mannerisms, energy, and curiosity of a child in an adult's body. However, Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers do not act like children. Instead, they cavort like childish adults. The bookish professor that Grant plays would never have thrown paint around, pulled a girl's pigtails, or danced an Indian war dance as a child. He was probably as studious at ten as he was at 40. Unfortunately, Grant did not have Tom Hanks's nuanced performance to study, and he overacts wildly. Grant's turn here is arguably his worst since "Arsenic and Old Lace," which compensated with a terrific supporting cast and a funny script. Even worse, Rogers tries to keep pace with Grant's antics, and, speaking in a little girlish voice, her silliness is even more ridiculous than Grant's.

However, Marilyn Monroe in an early supporting role is the one sterling reason not to miss "Monkey Business." Marilyn never drinks the formula and remains the epitome of the dumb blonde throughout. But Monroe is no ordinary dumb blonde; she is sweet, vulnerable, and innocent. The screen grows brighter when she appears, and she is drop-dead gorgeous. When Marilyn hikes her skirt to show her acetate stockings to Grant, she is oblivious to the effect she has. Of course, a half century ago, sexism was rampant and tolerated, if not encouraged, and "Monkey Business" has more than its share. Charles Coburn, the geriatric laboratory boss, admits Monroe is there to look at, and Grant leers at her legs shamelessly. Ginger Rogers is no liberated woman either; she is the housewife with nothing to do but buy new dresses, plan social events, and care for her helpless husband.

Considering the credits, "Monkey Business" should have been an hilarious classic; unfortunately, the Marx Brothers film of the same title is much funnier. The Hawks film is notable only for the dazzling presence of a young Marilyn Monroe and little else. Even the chimp has done better work.

great

[Caz1964 · 9/10 · 7 November 2005]

I haven't seen this film for years,its very rarely on TV these days,which is a shame,i managed to get a copy on DVD,its always been one of the comedies I've wanted to own.The scene i always remembered best,was the one in which Cary Grant is playing cowboys and Indian's with the local children,and where Hank Entwhistle gets his just deserts,for being a smug playboy still trying to get Edwina.Ginger Rogers proved she could still dance and did a great comic turn,when she turns into a child.This film goes to show,that in them days they could make classic comedy without any foul language and without crudity,they didn't find any problem doing that.Marilyn Monroe provided the sexual interest in one of her more low key performances,and the plot only mildly focus on that,which is good.If you have never seen this film,and you like films from the early fifties,this is definitely worth a look.

Goofy fun

[stills-6 · 7/10 · 2 September 2000]

Wacky, screwball fun. You can forget about the outrageous plot because everyone is just so much fun to watch. As a general rule, I don't like monkeys in movies - everything just gets too stupid. But it's done very well here and watching Esther (the monkey) make the elixir is just fascinating. It's hard to believe that's actually a monkey.

Ginger Rogers always seems to be a better actress when she's not with Fred Astaire, for some reason. And Cary Grant is always a good goof.

There is one uncomfortable scene (very un-PC) for a modern audience about a group of children playing cowboys and Indians, which may have kept this movie from being in the pantheon of classic screwball comedies.

O Youth and Beauty!

[telegonus · 8/10 · 8 December 2002]

Monkey Business is a sort of late screwball comedy in which a scientist discovers a formula for returning people to their youth. The problem is that they become a little too youthful, and all hell breaks loose as a result. Directed by veteran Howard Hawks, co-authored by Ben Hecht, this is a funny if one joke film. Leading players Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers handle their parts capably, Charles Coburn is marvelous in a large (in all senses of that word) supporting role, and since it's a cliche to call Marilyn Monroe eye candy, I won't. Good fun all-round, the movie is in the end not as good as its thirties prototypes; some of the jokes go on for too long; and the repartee, such as the dialogue can be called, isn't as zingy as it might be. A good try, though, and intermittently hilarious.

Funny,but not the best with Marilyn

[Lady_Targaryen · 6/10 · 16 February 2006]

''Monkey Business'' is a funny movie, but Marilyn Monroe has a small role as Dr. Barnaby Fulton's secretary, miss Lois Laurel. We also have the very famous Ginger Rogers as Mrs. Edwina Fulton, the female lead role.

The story is about Barnaby Fulton(Cary Grant), a scientist who is working in a formula to make people young again. He is two years trying to find the exact proportions and ingredients for the formula, but he doesn't have any success. His old boss,Mr. Oliver Oxley(Charles Coburn) is always telling Barnaby to have success, because without the right formula is not going to promote him, but for his luck he has a very nice and supportive wife, Edwina Fulton, who is always helping him. One day,Esther, the young ape goes out of her cage and mix Barnaby's ingredients, making it a success, but she gets the formula mixed with the water, and that's how the problems starts to begins: Barnaby, Edwina and even the other scientists and Mr. Oxley are going to drink it, making many confusions and bringing problems for them all.

aka "O Inventor Da Mocidade" - Brazil

The secret formula

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 26 September 2011]

Barnaby Fulton is a typical absent minded scientist. When we first see him, he is preparing to go out with his wife Edwina to a dance. He clearly does not want to go, because in his mind, the formula he has been working on has him worried. The secret youth producing elixir will not be able to be produced. Barnaby works for a company that is capitalizing its existence on the success of a product that will change people's lives as their lives will benefit with a youth feeling that no one else has marketed.

Unknown to Barnaby, one chimp in the lab, decides to imitate Dr. Fulton and creates its own formula which he dumps in the water cooler. Barnaby, decides to taste his own creation himself, something the company does not encourage. Finding it ever so bitter, he must have some water to take away the after taste he gets after drinking his formula. The results are amazing: Barnaby becomes a reckless young man.

"Monkey Business" owes its success to the great Howard Hawks, a man that produced some of the best comedies of Hollywood that still are seen again and again. Mr. Hawks was a versatile man that knew what the public wanted. The comedy worked because all the elements came together to make it a timeless piece that will be enjoyed by audiences of all ages. The screenplay was by Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer and I.A.L. Diamond, and based on a story by Harry Segal.

An inspired Cary Grant is the basically the excuse for watching the film. He shows his range in playing the morose scientist as well as the younger man that has fun playing with children as well. Mr. Grant is perfect as Barnaby. Ginger Rogers also has some excellent moments when she tastes her husband's magical formula, reverting to the time when she had just married Barnaby. Marilyn Monroe added a touch of mischief playing the secretary with all the right equipment to distract men at the office. Charles Coburn and Hugh Marlowe are also seen in supporting roles.

Grant at his screwball best

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 29 August 2005]

Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers go back to their childhoods in "Monkey Business," about a youth formula mixed up by a monkey. It's a real '30s screwball comedy in the hands of three masters - Howard Hawks, Grant, and Rogers, and the concept is a funny one, even if it does get a bit tedious.

Marilyn Monroe is delicious in a supporting role as a secretary who can't type. Hugh Marlowe and Charles Coburn are the straight men - Coburn is the head of the company that wants Grant's formula, except that Grant's formula is worthless. When his back was turned, one of his experimental monkeys mixed up the magic concoction and dropped it in the water cooler. After a glass, Grant becomes a college kid again and takes Monroe on a whirl. Then Rogers uses the water to make coffee...

It's amazing that Grant was still making these movies twenty years after he started, but he's as agile as ever. This is a fun watch and of great interest because of Monroe.

contrived and irritating!

[standardmetal · 4/10 · 14 June 2006]

I think I'd have loved this film when I was 9 or 10 but now I can only watch it in disbelief while I shake my head and mutter "Oh, come on!" A throwback to the 1930's screwball comedies, this has a very flimsy plot which allows the aging cast to act like complete nincompoops, particularly as the film goes on.

I'd say that Cary Grant (a screwball comedy veteran) and Ginger Rogers had zero chemistry as the married couple and I also thought Charles Coburn uncharacteristically walked through a part he did many times before in better movies. But I think Marilyn stole the picture whenever she appeared, not that it was that difficult to do in this case.

We were not amused!