MONKEY BUSINESS: a superstar just having fun

MONKEY BUSINESS is fun - lots of very silly fun - and the main reason for that is Cary Grant.
He's clearly having a ball playing a rather stodgy middle-aged research scientist who 'discovers' a fountain of youth elixir that causes him to behave like a teenager.

What makes this 1952 comedy so enjoyable is that the 48 year old Grant's impression of an 18 year old is just that - an impression. His teenager bears not the slightest resemblance to James Dean's tortured teen in 1955's 'Rebel Without a Cause.' It's a caricature of a stereotype that probably only ever existed in Hollywood films.
But let's face it. If Grant were going for authenticity he'd have essayed some Dean-like character and we'd have had a drama devoid of any belly laughs.
Grant's a gas and he's got some great support - from Charles Coburn as his exasperated boss with an eye for a pretty young lady; from a pre-superstar Marilyn Monroe as the pretty young thing who's not as ditzy as her boss would like; and from a chimp who follows direction so perfectly you'll be convinced it must be a midget in a monkey suit. The only square in this board of otherwise round pegs is Ginger Rogers as Grant's long suffering wife. When she finally chugs some of the magic water her transformation into an oversize kid is considerably more broad than it is amusing.
MONKEY BUSINESS reunites Grant with director Howard Hawks for the first time since the latter directed the former in the strained and not very funny 'I Was a Male War Bride' and the difference is like night and day.
If you're looking for proof that a film comedy can be genuinely funny without resorting to swearing, nudity, gratuitous violence, or gross-out stunts let me offer MONKEY BUSINESS as exhibit A. It's as silly as the title suggests.