Film

Some Like It Hot

Name: Some Like It Hot
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Crime
Released: 1959
Cast: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, George Raft, Pat O'Brien

Screwball comedy
Light-hearted

Wilder's black-and-white farce is often called the funniest American comedy ever made, and it earns the claim on pure velocity: two broke musicians dodge the mob by joining an all-girl band in drag, and every scene since has to compete with the escalating chaos, the gags about desire and disguise, and Marilyn Monroe at her most luminous and saddest.

TMDb rating

4.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love screwball comedy where the jokes come fast, the disguises get more absurd by the minute, and the cast is clearly having the time of their lives.

Skip it if you find 1950s studio farce creaky, or you dislike comedy built on cross-dressing and mistaken identity, since the whole film runs on that premise.

What it asks of you: Just over two hours at a brisk clip, with plenty of rapid dialogue and physical gags, so it rewards close attention rather than half-watching while doing something else.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Tootsie1982

Dustin Hoffman in drag to get an acting job, but the joke deepens into a genuinely sharp comedy about how differently men and women get treated. Same engine, sharper social bite.

But Its gender politics, progressive for 1982, can feel a little dated and self-congratulatory now.

The Apartment1960

Wilder and Lemmon again, a year later, trading farce for something quieter and sadder about compromise and loneliness in the corporate world. Still very funny, but it aches more.

But Much less zany — if you wanted pure slapstick energy, this is a tonal comedown.

His Girl Friday1940

The gold standard for rapid-fire dialogue comedy, with Rosalind Russell matching every quip thrown at her. Watch it for the sheer craft of the timing.

But The dialogue moves so fast some viewers find it exhausting rather than exhilarating on a first watch.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Some Like It Hot

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

I Was a Male War Bride1949

A direct ancestor: the same premise of survival-by-disguise through cross-dressing, played by one of the era's biggest stars a full decade earlier.

Cary Grant, a decade before Lemmon and Curtis, has to dress as a woman to get through Army red tape and marry Ann Sheridan. It's the blueprint this film borrowed from, and it's a genuine hoot.

But Grant's discomfort in the dress is played more for indignity than glamour, so the comedy is broader and less warm.

Victor/Victoria1982

Julie Andrews plays a woman playing a man playing a woman in this musical comedy that has enormous fun tangling up gender and performance, much like the disguise plot you just watched.

But It's a full musical with songs and dance numbers, which won't suit everyone's taste.

Bringing Up Baby1938

Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn at their most chaotic, a leopard loose in Connecticut, and screwball comedy running at full, glorious speed.

But The manic pace and constant bickering can grate if you're not already fond of the genre.

What's Up, Doc?1972

Peter Bogdanovich's loving homage to old screwball comedies, with Barbra Streisand causing gleeful havoc. A direct descendant of the era this film came from.

But It's knowingly derivative, so it can feel like a copy rather than the real thing.

Mrs. Doubtfire1993

Robin Williams in drag for entirely different, more sentimental reasons, but the comic engine of maintaining a disguise under pressure is exactly the same machine.

But Sweeter and more family-friendly, with less of the anarchic, adult edge you just enjoyed.

La Cage aux Folles1978

A French farce about a drag club owner pretending to be respectable for his son's fiancée's parents — warm, funny, and unafraid of its own flamboyance.

But Subtitled and stagier in tone, closer to filmed theatre than cinematic farce.

Kind Hearts and Coronets1949

Alec Guinness plays eight different murder victims in this dry, murderous British comedy of disguise and social climbing. Darker wit, same delight in performance and pretence.

But Its clipped, understated English humour is a world away from American farce and may feel too dry.

Boys Don't Cry1999

Same core question of what it costs to live as someone else to survive, but pushed from farce into devastating, true-life drama.

Hilary Swank's Oscar-winning performance as a trans man passing in small-town Nebraska takes the theme of gender disguise and strips out every laugh, replacing it with real danger and real stakes.

But It is bleak, violent, and based on a true tragedy — nothing here is played for comedy or comfort.

Paris Is Burning1991

Turns the film's comic premise of disguise-as-survival into lived, real-world testimony about identity, performance, and community.

A documentary about New York's Black and Latino drag ball scene, full of wit, invented families, and performance as both art and armour — joyful and clear-eyed at once.

But It's a documentary with no plot momentum to speak of, built from interviews and footage rather than story.