Your Movie Library
Cast
- Groucho MarxGroucho
- Harpo MarxHarpo
- Chico MarxChico
- Zeppo MarxZeppo
- Rockliffe FellowesJ.J. 'Big Joe' Helton
- Harry WoodsAlky Briggs
- Thelma ToddLucille Briggs
- Ruth HallMary Helton
- Tom KennedyGibson
- Ben TaggartCapt. Corcoran (uncredited)
Recommendations
- 88
Chicago Tribune
Volcanically funny. [23 Dec 2005, p.C7] - 83
The A.V. Club
In casting the brothers as stowaways on an ocean liner, Monkey Business gets laughs from broad Keystone Kops chase scenes, but extends the absurdity even further with bizarre one-liners (Groucho claims he "licked his weight in wild caterpillars") and a sequence in which all four brothers try to get off the boat by impersonating Maurice Chevalier. - 80
TV Guide Magazine
One of the Marx Brothers' funniest films, Monkey Business was their first to be written directly for the screen and is noticeably less stagy than earlier efforts. - 80
Los Angeles Times
McLeod was in charge of the mayhem, S. J. Perelman had a hand in the script and Monkey Business is just as funny as it was in 1931. [25 Mar 1986, p.7] - 75
LarsenOnFilm
Most of the picture takes place on a luxury cruise liner – on which Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo are stowaways – and the setting makes for a wonderful comic playground. Racing up and down decks and in and out of cabins, the brothers exhibit a more sophisticated sense of staging and interplay than they did in something like Animal Crackers. - 70
The New York Times
Whether it is really as funny as Animal Crackers is a matter of opinion. Suffice it to say that few persons will be able to go... and keep a straight face. - 70
Time Out
With Monkey Business, their first screen original, the team cast caution to the winds, helped by a perky script and some lunatic sight gags. - 70
Variety
The usual Marx madhouse and plenty of laughs sprouting from a plot structure resembling one of those California bungalows which spring up over night.
