One Paragraph Movie Review: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

One hundred and seventy-second film: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, with Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, and that scene Madonna copied for the Material Girl video. Almost every theme in this movie has dated badly — women needing to marry rich men, women being comically obsessed with diamonds, conical bras being a good idea, and cruise ships full of glamorous millionaires instead of coronavirus — but it’s still charming as all get-out. Monroe’s slow-motion facial tics get annoying pretty early in, and like most musicals so does the constant need to break into song, but when all is said, done, cinched, and wiggled, this is an inoffensive movie with an uncomplicated premise and funny bits uninterrupted by sophistication. And the frocks, mate. The frocks are BEYOND incredible, and potentially worth marrying into money for — you wouldn’t have time to work between girdle fittings. Three and a half sleeping-pill-laced whiskies out of five.