Cary Grant's a chemist work on a formula for a revitalizing tonic. His boss (Charles Coburn) is eagerly awaiting a successful formula so he can make a play on his airheaded secretary (Marilyn Monroe). He thinks he's figured it out, but really one of the test chimps mixed a bunch of stuff together while left unattended and dumped it in the water cooler. That concoction does make people feel young, and the more he or his wife (Ginger Rogers) unwittingly drink, the younger they behave. It does have the unfortunate side effect of almost throwing a monkey wrench in their marriage, as things they say or do while under the influence have effects that carry forward, mostly in regards to a lawyer friend of Rogers, who clearly wants to break up the marriage.
It's a good comedy, I think because most of the main characters behave with a certain amount of dignity most of the time, so watching them behave foolishly, and really commit to it, works. Even when Grant's playing an absent-minded professor, he still carries himself such that watching him do cartwheels, or take a pratfall while rollerskating with Monroe is just funny. The same with Rogers, who is a mature, loving, helpful lady, but once she drinks the water she starts slipping goldfish down Coburn's pants or jitterbugging up a storm.
Although the funniest bit to me might have been Grant enlisting the neighborhood children to help him capture and scalp the lawyer. Watching Grant hop around with the kids whooping, then shouting, "Jeepers, it's the cops!" and fleeing into the woods is pretty funny. Well, Grant and Rogers' brief paint fight is in the running.
Monroe doesn't get much of a role, the stereotypical bubblehead, who shows up before 9 am because her boss told her to work on her "punctuation". Watching Rogers get wound up about her when she's on the potion is amusing, but Monroe doesn't get to really do anything in response.
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