![alr](/public/upload/events/medium/5cf03f0a06ecd.jpg?1561401878)
Hawks’ final collaboration with Cary Grant sets a tall task for the star. As Dr. Barnaby Fulton, a chemist who drinks an experimental fountain of youth potion and regresses through various stages of his development, Grant must play multiple parts in one: a stuffy, unhappily-married adult; a manic, horny young man; and an inexhaustible, euphoric child. Naturally, Grant is up to the challenge, resulting in one of the actor’s greatest comic performances, a psychologically convincing progression through his gifts of verbal repartee and physical horseplay alike. But Barnaby isn’t the only one who drinks the potion. Monkey Business’ ingeniously silly structure plays like a tweak on the slasher movie, with various members of the cast imbibing the mysterious substance until eventually everyone is reduced to juvenile behavior—all because a monkey goes haywire in the lab. Among the overdose recipients is Barnaby’s discontented wife Edwina (Ginger Rogers), for whom both an inner brattiness and a girlish spunk re-emerge from under her surface docility to match Barnaby’s increasingly wild energy. As a result, this seemingly anarchic farce turns into a poignant reflection on the importance of maintaining youthful passion in romance.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
![](/public/upload/events/thumb/5cf03ee0ada8c.jpg?1566567525)
His Girl Friday
![](/public/upload/events/thumb/5cf03ee212740.jpg?1566567525)
The Big Sleep (pre-release version)
![](/public/upload/events/thumb/5d14ea8d7d9e8.jpg?1566567527)
A Girl in Every Port
![](/public/upload/events/thumb/5cf03eeb1624a.jpg?1566567525)
The Cradle Snatchers / Paid to Love
![](/public/upload/events/thumb/5cf03ef1d9a7a.jpg?1566567525)
Fazil
![](/public/upload/events/thumb/5cf03ef322a50.jpg?1566567525)
Fig Leaves
![](/public/upload/events/thumb/5cf03ef99674d.jpg?1566567525)
Man's Favorite Sport?
![](/public/upload/events/thumb_wide/5cf03efbe3f8c.jpg?1561399136)
The Crowd Roars
![](/public/upload/events/thumb/5cf03f068a663.jpg?1566567525)
Today We Live
![](/public/upload/events/thumb/5cf03f0901a2b.jpg?1566567525)