A fast, impeccably timed screwball farce with gangster stakes, gender disguise comedy, and one of Hollywood’s most enduring final lines. It’s witty, elastic, and surprisingly modern in its flirtation with identity and desire.
Some Like It Hot
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Comedy · Romance
Thu · 2h 3m
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe
Overview
In Prohibition-era Chicago, musicians Joe and Jerry witness a mob hit, and flee the state in an all-female band disguised as Josephine and Daphne, but further complications set in.
Director
Billy Wilder
Cast
Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe
Curator Review
Verdict
A fast, impeccably timed screwball farce with gangster stakes, gender disguise comedy, and one of Hollywood’s most enduring final lines. It’s witty, elastic, and surprisingly modern in its flirtation with identity and desire.
Best for
fans of classic Hollywood comedy
viewers who like sharp dialogue and farce
people interested in gender-bending mistaken-identity stories
audiences who enjoy romantic comedies with crime elements
Skip if
you dislike old studio-era pacing or style
you want a grounded or realistic crime story
you’re uncomfortable with period-specific gender and sexuality humor
you prefer broad slapstick over verbal wit
Overview
Billy Wilder’s comedy is a machine built from perfect timing, escalating lies, and romantic confusion. It starts as a gangster escape story and keeps mutating into something looser, flirtier, and more chaotic, with every scene finding a new way to complicate the disguise premise.
Worth noting
Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon make the double act sing, but the movie also gives Marilyn Monroe some of her most luminous screen work. The humor is broad enough to be instantly accessible, yet the film’s real pleasure is how carefully it balances farce with character: everyone is chasing money, safety, love, or fantasy, and the collisions are endlessly funny.
Bottom line
What still stands out is how alive the film feels. It’s a polished studio comedy, but not a museum piece; the jokes land, the rhythm is nimble, and the ending is still one of the great punchlines in American cinema. If you like comedies that are both elegant and unruly, this is essential viewing.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Dan (5★) · 15975 likes
"I'm a man!" "Well, nobody's perfect."
fran hoepfner (5★) · 13204 likes
fellas........ is it gay to dress up in drag to escape the mob
Josh Lewis (4★) · 10476 likes
"I'm engaged!" "Congratulations. Who's the lucky girl?" "I am!"
mia 🦇 (3.5★) · 5703 likes
osgood fielding was a true lgbt+ ally
andrea🌹 (4★) · 4831 likes
i know everyone likes marilyn monroe but sis rlly was a full-on icon,,, a legend ahead of her time,,, when the costume designer told her that tony curtis had a nicer butt than her, homegirl pulled open her dainty little 50s top and fucking said “yeah, but he doesn’t have tits like these!” she came for my wig 40 years before i was even born. ur fave could NEVER