Three Marx brothers are in a boat; which gag first comes to mind? Exactly, mentioning the iconic siblings with the word 'boat' will reprint in any movie lover's brain the unforgettable image of an overcrowded cabin. Which makes "Monkey Business" the 'other' one set in a boat, with the FOUR Marx brothers monkeying around this time... as nameless stowaways, and is there a worse waste of a gag when Groucho Marx plays a nameless character? But that's not even the film's only flaw.
I know "Monkey Business" is considered one of these best but that's a consensus I fail to share, it is good zany madcap comedy, but it is set for the two thirds in a boat without providing a single scene as memorable as the aforementioned one from "A Night at the Opera". There's one exception though: the hilarious sequence where Harpo Marx impersonates a "Punch and Judy" puppet, like Chaplin did differently in "The Circus" a few years earlier. Harpo proves against to be a master of pantomime (his puppet-face is hilarious) and that was the scene that stuck to me after one viewing, and it still does after the second.
But whatever Harpo's presence accomplishes is shortcut by Groucho's unusual absence and one of his usual punching bags: Margaret Dumont. It was Thelma Todd who pulled it, but while she had a great chemistry with Groucho, the only memorable line he delivered to her carried macabre undertones as she would die four years later in a mysterious garage 'accident' (you can find the information on the trivia section). The ill-fated actress would have a better role in the next Marx Brothers film "Horse Feathers" as the college widow. But let's get back to Groucho.
Granted this was their third movie and nothing was still in the realm of 'usual' but let's face it, Groucho was from the start the central intelligence of the group and his presence is barely noticeable in "Monkey Business", not in the same vein of ubiquitous annoyance he used to deliver anyway. I don't think it is a coincidence that he will reprise his dominance as the intellectual troll we love to love in the next films and no less coincidental that Zeppo Marx' screen-time will decline as well. For all I know, Zeppo might even be the most genuinely funny of all the brothers but he just can't be funny. He can be involved in a funny situation but Zeppo isn't the reason we watch a Marx Brothers film.
Indeed, with Chico as the gambler and womanizer, Harpo as the goofy childlike simpleton and Groucho as the deadpan wisecracker, the trio allowed three schools of comedy: vaudeville, slapstick and satire to merge into a style that became their own and allowed them to become as essential to Hollywood as Chaplin, Keaton or Lloyd. Zeppo rode that wave of popularity but didn't contribute much to it. So when the film opens with four barrels 'singing' and then his head shows, pops up, I find it more awkward than funny. For me, he's the 'handsome guy with the suit', when the sailors look after them, I would expect him to get through the situation more easily than his brothers. That's why he's never as efficient as a romantic character and his best gags involve the gangster's daughter.
Speaking of the sailors who were looking for them in the beginning, one of them told the captain that there were four stowaways because they were all singing "Sweet Adeline". I refuse to believe that Harpo Marx was singing as well. Nameless and absent Groucho: no happy, comical Zeppo: oddity but Harpo talking: blasphemy. In fact there are many aspects in "Monkey Business" likely to disorient the fans, it was the first Marx Brothers film conceived in Hollywood but you could tell they were carried away by the success of their two movies; I read that a dozen writers were involved in the script and Groucho hated the first draft. In my opinion, I don't see what's all the fuss with the final draft, it had a good share of jokes, but it lacked structure.
As soon as the four brothers split in the boat, it's like they exposed the biggest problem of their presence, it was undesired and needless from the start. All right, we all know that the Marx Brothers movies are only clotheslines on which to hang gags, but there has always been some coherence even within that seeming anarchy, if I had to stick to my guns, I would say the reason why I loved "Horse Feathers" is exactly the same why I didn't like "Monkey Business"... as I expected, it had a context, at least it had prohibition, school and sports management, that was the set-up to a series of gags culminating with the infamous chariot race in the stadium. "Monkey Business" has no context, it has a setting... but it could have been set in a hotel as well.
To say "Monkey Business" isn't funny wouldn't do justice to some funny sequences it features, mostly with Groucho and Chico, but the film just lacks the proper pacing. Some good jokes drag on a little, the musical numbers are quite great but they come too late after the boat part and work better when you see them as Youtube clips. In fact, the way "Monkey Business" breaks the unity of space also bothered me because I didn't like the gangster bit and the whole kidnapping thing strikes like a last minute plot point from one of the the twelve writers.
Yes, we expect anarchy from the Marx Brothers, but this film was too genuinely disorganized to let them glide through it. Good, but not great.
I know "Monkey Business" is considered one of these best but that's a consensus I fail to share, it is good zany madcap comedy, but it is set for the two thirds in a boat without providing a single scene as memorable as the aforementioned one from "A Night at the Opera". There's one exception though: the hilarious sequence where Harpo Marx impersonates a "Punch and Judy" puppet, like Chaplin did differently in "The Circus" a few years earlier. Harpo proves against to be a master of pantomime (his puppet-face is hilarious) and that was the scene that stuck to me after one viewing, and it still does after the second.
But whatever Harpo's presence accomplishes is shortcut by Groucho's unusual absence and one of his usual punching bags: Margaret Dumont. It was Thelma Todd who pulled it, but while she had a great chemistry with Groucho, the only memorable line he delivered to her carried macabre undertones as she would die four years later in a mysterious garage 'accident' (you can find the information on the trivia section). The ill-fated actress would have a better role in the next Marx Brothers film "Horse Feathers" as the college widow. But let's get back to Groucho.
Granted this was their third movie and nothing was still in the realm of 'usual' but let's face it, Groucho was from the start the central intelligence of the group and his presence is barely noticeable in "Monkey Business", not in the same vein of ubiquitous annoyance he used to deliver anyway. I don't think it is a coincidence that he will reprise his dominance as the intellectual troll we love to love in the next films and no less coincidental that Zeppo Marx' screen-time will decline as well. For all I know, Zeppo might even be the most genuinely funny of all the brothers but he just can't be funny. He can be involved in a funny situation but Zeppo isn't the reason we watch a Marx Brothers film.
Indeed, with Chico as the gambler and womanizer, Harpo as the goofy childlike simpleton and Groucho as the deadpan wisecracker, the trio allowed three schools of comedy: vaudeville, slapstick and satire to merge into a style that became their own and allowed them to become as essential to Hollywood as Chaplin, Keaton or Lloyd. Zeppo rode that wave of popularity but didn't contribute much to it. So when the film opens with four barrels 'singing' and then his head shows, pops up, I find it more awkward than funny. For me, he's the 'handsome guy with the suit', when the sailors look after them, I would expect him to get through the situation more easily than his brothers. That's why he's never as efficient as a romantic character and his best gags involve the gangster's daughter.
Speaking of the sailors who were looking for them in the beginning, one of them told the captain that there were four stowaways because they were all singing "Sweet Adeline". I refuse to believe that Harpo Marx was singing as well. Nameless and absent Groucho: no happy, comical Zeppo: oddity but Harpo talking: blasphemy. In fact there are many aspects in "Monkey Business" likely to disorient the fans, it was the first Marx Brothers film conceived in Hollywood but you could tell they were carried away by the success of their two movies; I read that a dozen writers were involved in the script and Groucho hated the first draft. In my opinion, I don't see what's all the fuss with the final draft, it had a good share of jokes, but it lacked structure.
As soon as the four brothers split in the boat, it's like they exposed the biggest problem of their presence, it was undesired and needless from the start. All right, we all know that the Marx Brothers movies are only clotheslines on which to hang gags, but there has always been some coherence even within that seeming anarchy, if I had to stick to my guns, I would say the reason why I loved "Horse Feathers" is exactly the same why I didn't like "Monkey Business"... as I expected, it had a context, at least it had prohibition, school and sports management, that was the set-up to a series of gags culminating with the infamous chariot race in the stadium. "Monkey Business" has no context, it has a setting... but it could have been set in a hotel as well.
To say "Monkey Business" isn't funny wouldn't do justice to some funny sequences it features, mostly with Groucho and Chico, but the film just lacks the proper pacing. Some good jokes drag on a little, the musical numbers are quite great but they come too late after the boat part and work better when you see them as Youtube clips. In fact, the way "Monkey Business" breaks the unity of space also bothered me because I didn't like the gangster bit and the whole kidnapping thing strikes like a last minute plot point from one of the the twelve writers.
Yes, we expect anarchy from the Marx Brothers, but this film was too genuinely disorganized to let them glide through it. Good, but not great.