Monkey Business

Monkey Business (1952) is a screwball comedy from 20th Century Fox you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, and Marilyn Monroe. Research chemist Barnaby Fulton has been chasing a rejuvenation formula for years with nothing to show for it — until a chimpanzee escapes the lab, randomly mixes chemicals, and dumps the result into the office water cooler.

Fulton drinks a cup and reverts to something closer to twenty: he buys a sports car, flirts like a teenager, and forgets entirely that he has a wife. Then his wife gets to the cooler. Then his boss. Hawks runs the film like a relay race — each character picks up the baton of arrested development and sprints with it before handing it off. Grant is at his funniest when stripped of all dignity, and Monroe's role as the boss's secretary is brief but precisely placed.

The comedy holds up because Hawks never pauses to wink at the audience — the premise is absurd and everyone plays it absolutely straight. Stream Monkey Business (1952) online on iFILM.