Shazam!
High Life
Widows
The Walking Dead
Log in with Facebook
OR
By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies, and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango.
Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password.
We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your account. Just leave us a message here and we will work on getting you verified.
Please reference “Error Code 2121” when contacting customer service.
No consensus yet.
All Critics (31) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (4) | DVD (4)
Despite the script's cleverness, the presence of Tom Ewell, who is a first rate comedian and Oscar Homolka, who has long been a first rate actor, the entire film continually misses fire and fizzles out, like defective fireworks. Jan 23, 2013 | Full Review…
Despite the script's cleverness, the presence of Tom Ewell, who is a first rate comedian and Oscar Homolka, who has long been a first rate actor, the entire film continually misses fire and fizzles out, like defective fireworks.
Delmore Schwartz
What counts is that laughs come thick and fast, that the general entertainment is light and gay. Aug 15, 2007 | Full Review…
What counts is that laughs come thick and fast, that the general entertainment is light and gay.
Variety Staff
Although it was directed by Billy Wilder, this 1955 CinemaScope classic sometimes seems presided over by Frank Tashlin, with its satire of 50s puritanism and its use of wimpy Tom Ewell. Aug 15, 2007 | Full Review…
Although it was directed by Billy Wilder, this 1955 CinemaScope classic sometimes seems presided over by Frank Tashlin, with its satire of 50s puritanism and its use of wimpy Tom Ewell.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Monroe flaunts her attributes too blatantly, and seems less human because of it, while George Axelrod's play, fresh and risqué in the '50s, now appears a little obvious and over-plotted. Jun 24, 2006 | Full Review…
Monroe flaunts her attributes too blatantly, and seems less human because of it, while George Axelrod's play, fresh and risqué in the '50s, now appears a little obvious and over-plotted.
Derek Adams
So arresting is Monroe's presence that when she's not on-screen, we wait impatiently, wondering, Where have you gone, Mrs. DiMaggio? Jul 19, 2005
So arresting is Monroe's presence that when she's not on-screen, we wait impatiently, wondering, Where have you gone, Mrs. DiMaggio?
Melissa Anderson
Miss Monroe clearly plays the title role. Jan 1, 2000 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…
Miss Monroe clearly plays the title role.
Bosley Crowther
This is a wonderful comedy performance. So too, somewhat surprisingly, is Marilyn Monroe's. Jun 19, 2018 | Full Review…
This is a wonderful comedy performance. So too, somewhat surprisingly, is Marilyn Monroe's.
Virginia Graham
The film is still very funny. Sep 21, 2017 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
The film is still very funny.
Tony Sloman
Marilyn Monroe comedy is cute but won't interest most kids. Jul 26, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Marilyn Monroe comedy is cute but won't interest most kids.
Andrea Beach
Monroe takes over the movie the minute she appears onscreen, wearing impossible outfits and telling the most ridiculous stories with the lightest touch. Mar 30, 2014 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
Monroe takes over the movie the minute she appears onscreen, wearing impossible outfits and telling the most ridiculous stories with the lightest touch.
Josh Larsen
Though not one of Billy Wilder's good films, this sex farce is symptomatic of the mores of the 1950s, offering Marilyn a part that's variation of her "dumb" blondes. Aug 2, 2012 | Rating: B- | Full Review…
Though not one of Billy Wilder's good films, this sex farce is symptomatic of the mores of the 1950s, offering Marilyn a part that's variation of her "dumb" blondes.
Emanuel Levy
Very dated and not consistently funny but famous for the iconic Marilyn air-vent shot and a close to the under-wire smuttiness. Feb 2, 2009 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Very dated and not consistently funny but famous for the iconic Marilyn air-vent shot and a close to the under-wire smuttiness.
David Parkinson
Tom Ewell plays a Walter Mitty-ish everyman/married/schmuck who fantasizes, as he should, about the bombshell living upstairs from him: Marilyn Monroe. "Man, would I like ... her ... but I'm married!" And that's his entire character arc. Marilyn, for her part, simply shows up, wearing less and less, pouting her lips every so often. Her job is to be desirable and not to be cheap about it, which is tough to do. But that's the whole movie. Not a lot of craft here. If you like looking at Marilyn, then this is for you otherwise ... meh. Or look for The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty.
Super Reviewer
An insufferable comedy whose sense of humor is tremendously unfunny and obvious while Ewell is unbearable with his expository babbling and his character's stupid imagination - and the movie would have never become a classic if it weren't for that one famous scene only.
A man whose wife is away for the summer fantasizes about the girl who lives upstairs. Marilyn Monroe was obviously beautiful, glamorous, and altogether physically admirable, but she wasn't much of an actress. I find it difficult to believe that this character is so naive to fail to see Richard's attraction to her, so much so that she would jump atop the random subway vent. The character Monroe creates is perplexing because she has moments of profound insight at the end but an utter blindness throughout most of the rest of the of the film, and in the hands of a better actress, we might be able to discern a clear choice about the character's perceptions. Tom Ewell handles his many soliloquies well, but these speeches comprise far too much of the film. I would have thought that a director as good as Billy Wilder would have been able to show much of what was told in these parts of the film. Overall, this classic was disappointing, and I'm still looking to see what it is about Monroe that garners such universal acclaim.
An explosive comedy for its day, Itch is a fun romp with the help of the most down to earth starlet of the day, Marilyn Monroe. Though she is the main attraction in this romantic tryst, it is Tom Ewell as Richard Sherman who truly carries most of the film with his rare comedy sensibilities. Monroe herself is a comedy giant, and in this film isn't always the sexpot or the vain yet charming girl of the down and out. The film is structured in a way that is unfamiliar to that time period, though it's not hard to understand the logic behind it, seeing as how it was written and directed by none other than Billy Wilder. The film is narrated throughout by a bodiless voice that describes much of what happen within Manhattan, as the film is not only a variant of romantic comedies, but also a commentary on the nuclear family. It's not meant to be taken with deliberate seriousness, and many parts are dated because of the way sex is viewed in society has evolved considerably. Still, it's really quite interesting and dare I say it, funny, to watch the devolving state of Richard Sherman, alone in Manhattan without the tether of his family, and all the allure of the voluptuous upstairs neighbor. I'm not going to sit here and deliberately unravel the social commentary of the film, or its importance as one of the first films to displace sex in film, but it really was scandalous for when it was made. During the film nudist colonies are mentioned, adultery is a prevalent theme throughout (and the basis for the film), and Monroe is displayed as a working girl, a Midwesterner who is just trying to make a living and live her life accordingly, but in the process is always attacked by men as she is a buxom blonde. If you love screwball comedies, or just comedy in general, you will love this, as well as any Marilyn fan. It really is a comedy gem.
View All Quotes
View All