Curator Watchlist
A breezy, polished 1950s sex comedy with Billy Wilder’s sharp comic timing and Marilyn Monroe’s star power, but it’s also built around a deeply dated male fantasy and a protagonist many viewers will find irritating or unlikable. Worth it if you want classic Hollywood style, cultural history, and Monroe at full… Read more
Where to watch: Buy
Fri · 1h 45m
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes
When his family goes away for summer vacation, a hitherto faithful publishing executive with an overactive imagination is tempted by an attractive new neighbor.
Billy Wilder
Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes
A breezy, polished 1950s sex comedy with Billy Wilder’s sharp comic timing and Marilyn Monroe’s star power, but it’s also built around a deeply dated male fantasy and a protagonist many viewers will find irritating or unlikable. Worth it if you want classic Hollywood style, cultural history, and Monroe at full glow; less so if you need a romance with emotional balance or modern sensibilities.
Billy Wilder turns a flimsy premise into a slick, highly watchable comedy of temptation and self-delusion. The film’s real engine is not the plot but the performance dynamic: Tom Ewell’s anxious, increasingly ridiculous husband against Marilyn Monroe’s effortless, almost mythic screen presence.
That said, the movie is very much a product of its era, and the joke often depends on the audience recognizing how absurd and intrusive the man’s fantasies are. For some viewers that reads as satirical; for others it simply feels exhausting, especially given how little agency the woman is allowed beyond being an object of projection.
Still, as a piece of studio-era craftsmanship, it’s crisp, funny, and historically revealing. If you approach it as a time capsule with star power and strong comic construction, it delivers; if you want a romance that feels emotionally fair, it probably won’t land.
✨𝒜𝓇𝒾𝓃✨ (2.5★) · 1469 likes
I came to watch a film about Marilyn Monroe being stunning instead I spent 1h 45mins watching a paranoid, narcissistic prick cheat on his wife🙄
Poppy (Edward) (2.5★) · 1229 likes
Me everytime Richard thought something bad was going to happen to him: I'm supposed to feel sorry for that bitch? I don't!
Sally Jane Black · 899 likes
Monroe's easy charisma and confidence make the somewhat unfortunate fact that her character is blase toward continual (and violent) advances somehow almost tolerable. it seems less oblivious, less silly, and somehow almost powerful for her to be above it, in part because she has a goal in this story that has nothing to do with romance or sex. She doesn't use sex to get what she wants, either, but merely exists as a force of sexuality around the obnoxious main
erica dafon (0.5★) · 855 likes
fucking hell i hate men
corey👻 (3.5★) · 847 likes
home alone for delusional men
Another Wilder comedy that pairs fast-moving farce with iconic star performances and sharper social mischief.
Wilder’s best-known blend of romance, loneliness, and workplace cynicism, with a more emotionally rounded view of desire and compromise.
A perfect companion for Monroe’s comic charisma and self-aware star image in a glossy studio musical-comedy setting.
A stylish 1950s comedy built around female glamour, romantic scheming, and sharp studio-era polish.
Another Monroe vehicle that leans into her magnetism while giving the story a more grounded emotional shape.
Wilder’s earlier comedy of mistaken identity and sexual politics, showing his knack for turning awkward premises into brisk entertainment.
A screwball classic with rapid-fire dialogue, romantic chaos, and a more liberated comic energy.
For viewers who enjoy chaotic romantic comedy where desire, confusion, and social embarrassment drive the humor.
A benchmark for witty, fast-talking romantic comedy with sharper gender interplay and cleaner comic mechanics.
A contemporary 1950s comedy about bachelorhood, temptation, and romantic indecision with similar era appeal.
A smart studio comedy that balances romance and workplace tension with a more appealing lead dynamic.
A glossy, flirtatious romantic comedy that captures mid-century sexual sparring with more charm and balance.
temptation, marital anxiety, male fantasy, voyeurism, gender politics, urban loneliness, summer isolation, sexual frustration
classic Hollywood, 1950s, sex comedy, romantic farce, satire, gender dynamics, male gaze, urban comedy, star vehicle, studio-era