Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

6.2

Its clear from frame one that this is a vehicle for film goddess Marilyn Monroe. She outshines every one of her co-stars, oozing sex. The film never pretends to be about much else and the script is filled with humorous and risque double-talk. In the moment, the exchanges of the sexes are entertaining enough but the film fails to add up to anything more.

The prominent atomic blonde bomb is more than functional in a one-note vapid seductress. Apart from her beauty, she is everything wrong with the sex. She is selfish, egotistical and manipulative. The worst factor of the film is that she never changes. What we are left with by the film's conclusion is a weak comparison of men's wealth to woman's beauty, meant to anchor the sexes in their own ill-informed attractions. This thesis is not only true but quite poignant but fails to anchor a weakly-told story.

The structure of the film is quite weak, flip-flopping between paper-thin plot points that fail to add up to any substance. The musical numbers vary in quality but serve to anchor the film. Setting a pattern for all romantic comedies following it, the film falls into a pattern of situational humor. Each segment starts off strong enough but fizzles out before delivering any real laughs. The supporting characters, editing and cinematography all serve to make Monroe that much more dazzling. But like the main character, the film is fun to look at but doesn't have much else going for it.