This is one of the funnest movies we've seen in a long time. Murderous mobster mayhem, love, lust, gender-bending, prohibition and grifting... It's all here, for the low low price of two hours of your time. My favorite thing about this movie is that its simple. You could watch it any number of ways, and I know the film is used to help interpret gender roles worldwide, but it wasn't ever intended to be. It was supposed to be an easy romp through the lives of two half-way crooks who live hand to mouth in Chicago's messy business district. The main characters Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) are inescapably likable. The actors' on-screen performances have that wonderful classic physical hokiness that softens the movie as a whole in more than a few spots.
Anymore, you'd have to call this overacting. People have no patience for too much bodily embellishment, but the level of film grain and poor sound recording technology they had in the fifties required it. If you're watching, you can tell where the actors are basically yelling in each others' faces from less than a foot away to be heard on camera. Often Daphne's 'whispering' makes his/her voice crack hideously to hilarious effect. So yes, a lot of this movie is unintentionally funny, but I like the way the character makeups force a drifting balance of power between the two men.
First, on the streets of Chicago, Joe's betting and Big Ideas cause the two of them near ruin. Jerry's begging him to be practical and stay focused on what they need, not throw money away on his apparent gambling addiction... Then, as soon as they're disguised and on the train, Joe's reeling in Jerry as he pants excitedly at the skirts of all the surrounding women. The two tragically flawed men working whatever angles appear to them is what keeps the show moving to be sure, and they do an excellent job of carrying the movie. It sure as hell wasn't going to be Sugar or the stiff-as-wood gangsters, or Female Band Member #3.
My favorite part was the ending, when Jerry reveals himself to be a man and his husband-to-be takes it in stride. One can only assume that he understood the game all along, and our final second of film is Jerry acquiescing to a life of homosexuality - one he's always secretly craved and can finally accept. What a beautiful ending to this sordid tale. One thing about the ending that threw me was that Sugar realizes that Josephine has been a dude all along, right? Well, Jerry was the only one who ever did anything to help her. All Josephine ever did was listen to her prattle on about what she needs in a man and use it against her. Did Sugar understand that he pretended to be the millionaire, too? If she didn't, we haven't really resolved anything. Even his millionaire persona wasn't great to her, besides the diamond bracelet he gave her - effectively buying her off. He told her she couldn't possibly satisfy him and then let her peruse him for personal gain. Not a fantastic catch
If you look too close, none of these people are especially likeable, but they're all flawed and dizzy enough that they're fun to watch. The movie could have been shorter, but whatever. It was fun and seminal and everyone should see it once.
Watch Some Like it Hot.
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