Let's Make Love (1960)
Directed by George Cukor

Film Review

Marilyn Monroe does her utmost to breathe life into this ailing sluggard of a romantic comedy but even her talents are not quite up to the job and the film falls flat on its face whenever she goes out of camera shot.  Let's Make Love was a doomed production almost from the start - James Stewart, Cary Grant, Gregory Peck and Rock Hudson were just four of the big name actors who turned down the main male role, which ultimately landed at the feet of French star Yves Montand.  Whilst Montand was an established film actor he struggles with this, his first English language role, and fails to have much of a screen rapport with Monroe (even though the two were carrying on an off-screen romance at the time, in spite of the fact they were both married).

There is little to recommend this ungainly misfire.  The jokes are lame, the musical numbers are lacklustre or else just poorly staged, the storyline rambling and predictable.  The cameo appearances by Milton Berle, Gene Kelly and Bing Crosby look like what they are, a pointless extravagance, and the only contributors who do not totally disappoint are Tony Randall and Frankie Vaughan, although both are clearly wasted in this half-hearted timewaster.  Director George Cukor reputedly hated the film as much as his two stars - it is certainly not his greatest hour and it represents a career low-point for both Monroe and Montand.  You need a very high boredom threshold to get through this one.

Film Synopsis

Jean-Marc Clement is one of the wealthiest men in America, as famous for his extravagant lifestyle as he is for his shrewd business acumen.  When he learns that he is to be satirised in an off-Broadway show, his first instinct is to raise an injunction.  Instead, he takes the advice of his business associate and goes to watch the show being rehearsed.  The show's director mistakes him for an actor and talks him into playing himself in the revue.  Clement has by this stage fallen for the show's leading lady, Amanda Dell, and agrees to join the show so that he can be near to her.  Unfortunately, he has a rival in the show's main star, so he takes lessons in comedy, singing and dancing in a desperate attempt to take his place.  Clement's efforts finally pay off, but how will Amanda react when she discovers he is not, as she thinks, an impoverished actor, but a billionaire businessman...?