Today! Because I always get the fuzzy end of the lollipop –
Some Like it Hot (1959)
Directed by Billy Wilder
Starring Jack Lemmon (x2), Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, George Raft, Joe E. Brown, Pat O’Brien, Nehemiah Persoff, Joan Shawlee
We close out the first hundred list films with the movie the AFI declared the best comedy of all-time, on their list some 19 years ago now (19 years! Gah!). It’s a solid cross-dressing caper, with two on-the-run musicians joining up with an all-girl band, and sexy hijinks ensue. It’s the backbone of all comedy, before a certain point! It’s funny because they’re dressed as girls and they use funny voices! Plus, Marilyn Monroe’s acting doesn’t really destroy anything! But the best comedy of all-time?
I mean, I get it – the AFI is big into the history of film, as opposed to praising new, flashy things. And being the movie with the most jokes, or the funniest jokes, doesn’t necessarily make you the best comedy. But Some Like it Hot is so much like so many other movies that even though it does what it does very well, and with very high caliber performances from Lemmon and Curtis, is it really that amazing? Also, not to bang on the AFI too too much, but the number two movie on their comedy list? Also a cross dressing comedy. Come on, folks!
Funny as is it, Tootsie did not make this list
Knowingly Undersold 