Let's Make Love Movie Review

Old Marilyn Monroe farce, with ultra-rich Yves Montand coming from France to Broadway in order to see the rehearsal of a new play satirizing his life. Only he sees the inimitable Monroe on the stage and decides to roll with it, taking the role of himself in the play in order to get closer to the girl.

Yeah, only in the movies.

Unfortunately it's difficult to feel much empathy for the uber-froggy Jean-Marc (Montand). He's a rich snot who just doesn't deserve Marilyn's Amanda. Let him go back to Paris and get some Euro-honey and leave our American gals alone. In fact, a whole host of American actors turned down his part, including Gregory Peck, who quit the show after his part was reduced by an uncredited Arthur Miller (then married to Monroe) in lieu of upping Marilyn's screen time. Peck reportedly called the final product, "About as funny as pushing Grandma down the stairs in a wheelchair."

That's not far off. Tony Randall, as Jean-Marc's assistant, isn't even funny, and Montand is far stiffer than even his character. Monroe vamps it up but her heart just doesn't appear into it. Trouble at home with Arthur, perhaps? Then there are the plot points -- including pantomime and awful songs like "I Specialize." The comedy that is here is largely in the arms of cameo players like Milton Berle and Bing Crosby -- playing themselves, of course.

Let's Make Love has been widely seen and largely forgotten. Monroe made so many other sex comedies that became classics that you can safely skip this one.

Featured as part of the restored set of Monroe classics in The Diamond Collection II (see links at right).