Monkey Business

Pros: Signature Marx brothers comedy, a good example of their work
Cons: Movie runs a little long, loses pace midway

Monkey Business (1931) is the third Marx Brothers’ movie and the third of a five movie contract with Paramount. Their previous movies had been adaptations of their Broadway act, Monkey Business was their first original screenplay. It features the ...

Pros: The gut-busting antics
Cons: I guess "it's old" is a fair complaint. The Marx Brothers would also top this.

Introduction For some reason, it's taken me this long to finally see The Marx Brothers' Monkey Business. It's even more surprising considering that this film is featured in Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys, which I've seen countless ...

Pros: Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and Zeppo
Cons: It was made 70 years ago

Before watching this movie, the only other Marx brothers movies I'd seen were Animal Crackers, A night at the Opera, and A day at the races. This one is different from those, not only because it's shorter, but because there really isn't ...

Pros: Thelma Todd, yow! The Marx Brothers are at their peak, and they all share in the fun.
Cons: It's just too darn short. Like their other Paramount films, the movie itself is rather raggedly constructed.

The Marx Brothers are the most academically discussed and revered comedy team of all time. From the time they broke into Broadway fame with "I'll Say She Is" (1924) to their last sad farewell in the universally panned movie LOVE HAPPY (1949),...

Pros: total Marx madness
Cons: the last fifteen minutes seem to belong to a different film

We don't know why they stowed away. We don't know where they're going. We don't even know their names. None of these things are important in a movie that positively celebrates anarchy and nonconformity. I've written about two other Marx Brothers...

Pros: Harpo steals the show
Cons: Plot can be a bit contrived in places

I am constantly amazed at the sheer timelessness of Marx Brothers comedy. Their routines may be silly, sometimes predictable (if you grew up on Merrie Melodies cartoons like I did, you basically learned their take on Groucho 101), but the jokes are...

Pros: Great dialogue, Great Harpo gags,
Cons: Slight plot, some breakdown towards the end of the movie

The Marx Brother's first Hollywood movie, and the first one made directly for the screen, MONKEY BUSINESS is a endless, joyous romp that will have limp with laughter when the Paramount mountain finally appears on the screen at the end. As stowaways on an...