[4]

I want to like a Marx Brothers movie. Really, I do. But this is the third for me (after their earlier efforts, The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers) and so far, no dice. In this, their first film written specifically for the silver screen (and not based on a play or vaudeville act), the brothers stow away on a transatlantic cruise where they constantly outrun the ship’s security crew and get mixed up in a feud between rival gangsters. The pacing is brisk, but I find myself drawn only to the mute Harpo’s antics this time around. Usually, I enjoy at least a fraction of what Groucho mutters under his grease mustache, but in Monkey Business, he just comes off tedious and annoying. Harpo, on the other hand, has a few shining moments of physical comedy and pantomime genius controlling an opera singer on accompanying harp, and outwitting two ship officers during a Punch and Judy puppet show (his faces during this scene steal the show).