(500) Films of Empire - Day 108 - Some like it lukewarm

27 - Some Like It Hot - 3 stars

After a cracking Hogmanay night I woke up with a bit of a hangover but delighted to find another classic on the TV, what a good start to 2010.

Yet another film that it is amazing to think I haven't seen, with so many moments that feature on the usual '100 Greatest Lists'.

At the centre of the film is a terrific pairing of Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as two musicians who go on the run from mobsters, disguising themselves as women to be part of an all-girl group, led by the sexy Marilyn Monroe.

Curtis and Lemmon have a great comic timing between them, and are both game enough to throw themselves into there performances as 'Josephine' and 'Daphne', Lemmon especially, setting the standard for all sex swap comedies to come.  But Curtis's finest moments come as his third alter-ego; 'Junior', a Cary Grant spoof millionnaire who romances Monroe.  Best moment is when he claims to be unable to have feelings for a woman, kisses Marilyn then sits back down, "See... nothing!".

Monroe is the very definition of a star. Not an actress, but a star.

At times she is clearly reading from cue cards, Curtis said that kissing her was like "kissing Hitler" and there are legendary stories of Wilder having to do 80+ takes for one scene with her. I only wish she had live long enough to work with Kubrick, now that would have been fun to watch!

Despite all this her personality and natural charisma shines through as she plays Sugar Kane, a glorified version of herself, full of bubbly innocence and warmth.

A good comedy but it falters during the gangster scenes where the murders are very dark in tone compared to the rest of the film, also there was great potential in some of the minor characters who get lost in the second half of the film.

Overall I enjoyed it but was slightly underwhelmed on first viewing but that could be due to the fact that it has been hyped as one of the best films of all time and therefore has a lot to live up to, but as they say in the film... "Nobody's perfect!"