A sparkling screwball farce with gangster danger, gender disguise, and one of the great final punchlines in comedy history. It’s fast, sexy, and endlessly quotable, with Wilder balancing farce and melancholy better than almost anyone.
96% ★★★★★ (661,781)
Some Like It Hot
Where to watch: In Theaters
Movie · Comedy · Romance · NR
1959 · 2h 3m · ★ 96% (662K)
The movie too HOT for words!
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
Production
The Mirisch Company
Cast
Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Nehemiah Persoff, Joan Shawlee, Billy Gray, George E. Stone, Dave Barry, Mike Mazurki, Harry Wilson, Beverly Wills, Barbara Drew, Edward G. Robinson Jr., Mary Foley, Georgia Joan Hannan, Colleen O'Sullivan, Al Breneman
Where to watch
fuboTV, Philo, MGM Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A sparkling screwball farce with gangster danger, gender disguise, and one of the great final punchlines in comedy history. It’s fast, sexy, and endlessly quotable, with Wilder balancing farce and melancholy better than almost anyone.
Best for
fans of classic Hollywood comedy
viewers who like gender-bending farce and mistaken-identity plots
people who enjoy sharp, pre-Code-adjacent innuendo within studio-era polish
audiences looking for a romantic comedy with crime-story stakes
Skip if
you dislike old-school pacing or period humor
you want broad modern-style comedy
you’re uncomfortable with vintage gender and sexuality jokes
you prefer action-driven crime films over dialogue-driven farce
Overview
Billy Wilder turns a mobster chase into a champagne-bright comedy of disguise, desire, and improvisation. The movie moves with the confidence of a machine: every setup pays off, every costume change creates a new comic trap, and every performance lands a fresh variation on the same joke without wearing it out.
Worth noting
What keeps it alive is how playful it is about identity and attraction. The film is obviously a farce, but it also has a sly, surprisingly modern understanding of performance itself: people are always acting, flirting, bluffing, or trying to survive the role they’ve been handed.
Bottom line
Marilyn Monroe gives the film its pulse, while Curtis and Lemmon make the double act feel elastic and human. It’s one of those rare comedies that is both impeccably constructed and genuinely loose on its feet, which is why the ending still feels like a perfect release.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Dan (5★) · 15910 likes
"I'm a man!" "Well, nobody's perfect."
fran hoepfner (5★) · 13168 likes
fellas........ is it gay to dress up in drag to escape the mob
Josh Lewis (4★) · 10432 likes
"I'm engaged!" "Congratulations. Who's the lucky girl?" "I am!"
mia 🦇 (3.5★) · 5686 likes
osgood fielding was a true lgbt+ ally
andrea🌹 (4★) · 4821 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