Films Mostly

It’s a set-up at their point for their own brand of anarchy, but unfortunately the limits instead of giving wide latitude to do whatever they want. The Marx Brothers are always at their best when they are not constrained by the plot and can only run amok in the entire film, but this is not the case here, unfortunately.

The plot is too constrictive on them and chokes a little life in them, which means “Monkey Business” is that rare thing indeed: a Marx Brothers film that is boring patches. The story gangster (turns into bodyguards in a battle between two rival gangsters) is full of potential, but never comes out and just gets in the way instead. It is as if the director McLeod had no confidence in the brothers to carry the film and so insisted that hinder their style with a plot too fussy.

Put it this way, Zeppo has almost as much as the screen and the time frame as Groucho. And that is never a good thing. Chico and Harpo seems unusually quiet too, with only a moment of drilling anywhere in practice being close to his best.

But for as much as the first forty minutes can be dull, the last forty are much brighter, and Sparkie much more fun. “Monkey Business” really starts in gear, when the Marx Brothers are trying to escape the boat and passed through passport control. Thereafter, it is quite classic Marx Brothers as the product prurient nonsense Groucho devastate everything that comes into contact with.

It’s a shame it’s so wait to get there.

Tags: Chico Marx, Comedy, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Harry Woods, Norman Z. McLeod, Rockliffe Fellowes, UNIVERSAL PICTURES VIDEO, Zeppo Marx

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 12:02 pm and is filed under 1, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.