It’s 1929 and Joe and Jerry, poor jazz musicians desperate for a gig, accidentally witness a mob massacre. On the run from 'Spats' Colombo and his gangsters, they dress as female musicians Josephine and Daphne, and join an all-women band headed to Miami. Though struggling with their new life, the two become smitten with the band's vocalist, Sugar Kane. After Sugar unwittingly confides her preferences in men to Josephine/Joe, he poses as the millionaire heir to the Shell Oil fortune to woo her with carefully curated lies. Meanwhile, Jerry (as Daphne) has caught the eye of real millionaire Osgood Fielding III, who hits on Daphne unrelentingly. Joe and Jerry dig further into their deceit when 'Spats' and gang show up in Miami. The two are recognized; chaos ensues.
While I didn't hate it, this one didn't land for me. But to start with the positives, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon were truly brilliant in their roles. The story was way tighter and more buyable than I expected it to be, thanks to the grounding yet humorous inclusion of the mob. The film also starred Marilyn Monroe and is the first film I've seen with her. I’ve never really ‘gotten’ the Marilyn Monroe icon-thing and didn’t care for her performance here. The film exists in this weird place where it admits how difficult it is to be a woman, constantly preyed on by men. Jerry, as Daphne, in particular is subject to harassment and Joe seems to empathize. Yet on the flipside, Joe pretty aggressively preys on Sugar through lies and deceit. It plays like it's meant to be cute but wasn’t. But ultimately, it's not my 'snowflake/wokeness' (depending on who you think I am) that sunk my enjoyment but the fact I never found this comedy to be particularly funny. It was clever, but unfunny.
Oh well—nobody’s perfect.