Product Details

• Actors: Asia Argento, Jared Harris, Rupert Everett, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Julie T. Wallace
• Directors: Michael Radford
• Writers: Michael Radford, Andrew Davies, Chloe King, Michael Thomas
• Producers: Bob Weinstein, Colin Vaines, Harvey Weinstein
• Format: PAL
• Language: German (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: German
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004SGMK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #588,681 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "B. Monkey" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Director Michael Radford made a surprising about-face from his international hit Il Postino to this grungy British romantic crime thriller. Asia Argento (Dario's daughter and costar of Abel Ferrara's New Rose Hotel) is the title character, a street criminal whose specialty is breaking and entering: "I can get into anywhere." Jared Harris (Richard's son and Andy Warhol in I Shot Andy Warhol) is a bookish, shy schoolteacher with a yen for jazz who becomes smitten with Argento's sexy wildcat. Argento brings a vitality to the supercharged street thief trying to break with her past, but stick-in-the-mud Harris is restrained to a fault and Radford never quite finds the right chemistry to make their union any more than curious. Rupert Everett costars as a smart-mouthed, sleepy-eyed ne'er-do-well whose drug habit puts him deep in debt, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is Argento's volatile partner, a jittery young punk on a hair trigger. Radford has more fun with the villains than his ostensible hero; the film bubbles when they're on screen and the movie's single heist scene is a short, sharp, energized shot in the arm to a slowing story. Only Harris sticks out as an impossibly resolute saint who's dedicated his life to a passionate sinner. The conclusion reverberates with echoes of Straw Dogs, as remade by a kinder, gentler filmmaker. --Sean Axmaker

From The New Yorker

This slick production tries to meld action caper and torrid romance but ends up diluting both. The title character (Asia Argento), so nicknamed for her agility in getting in and out of tight spots, is a cool jewel thief looking to quit the life and become just plain Beatrice. She starts an unlikely affair with Alan (Jared Harris), an altruistic schoolteacher and part-time jazz d.j.-he's kind of a cross between David Hyde Pierce and Sting. They get together in London, Paris, and the dramatic countryside of northwest England, as the director, Michael Radford ("Il Postino"), indulges in not one but two bathtub scenes along the way. The path toward domestic bliss, though, is predictably interrupted by B.'s hunger for the old action, and the plot's progression is bumpy and unimaginative. Featuring Rupert Everett as an elegant, self-destructive drug dealer to the stars. -Ken Marks
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A magnetic Asia Argento--heists and true love...., July 21, 2005

By 

Mir (North Miami Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: B. Monkey (DVD)

The right person can help you overcome your self-destructiveness. That's pretty much the moral of this oddly endearing love story/crime story.

The principal character--very strongly and naturally played by a not-at-all-inhibited Asia Argento (ie, lots of nudity). I was very impressed by the other main character, Jared Harris, an actor I had only seen previously as Andy Warhol (I Shot Andy Warhol). He's terrific. His voice is fabulous (something in common with dad, the late great Richard H.) He's a good guy, the clean-cut teacher who cares about his students, law-abiding, gentle, jazz-loving. She's the thief with a soft heart, looking for a reason to leave that life, looking for "family" (her childhood was not chipper). She's got an ersatz family (a dysfunctional one) with Rupert Everett (as a charming, drug-addled thief) and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (as a pretty-boy, screwed up emotionally thief). They care about each other, but are also violent and volatile with each other.

The teacher gets pizzazz in his life from Beatrice (B Monkey); B. gets stability from him. But the dark elements of her character and her dangerous associates intrude into their lovey-dovey life, and they have to make tough decisions about how to continue together. It's very moving when Harris' character asks Beatrice, "If if was just you and me, and nothing else, would that be enough?" Ultimately, isn't that what true love may come down to? Is being with that person, like Adam and Eve, just the two of you, enough? Can you give up the thrills of a dangerous life and settle down and be happy?

The ending, violent and an ultimate test of loyalty and love, is explosive and appropriate given what came before. It's a satisfying, if gruesome conclusion to an askew love story.

I've never seen Miss Argento before, and I agree with the other reviewers that she is genuinely charismatic.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars mmmmmmmmmm... Asia..., May 16, 2001

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: B Monkey [VHS] (VHS Tape)

b.Monkey (Michael Radford, 1998)

Michael Radford is one of those directors whose work gets a lot of press, but no one ever thiks to ask who the guy behind the camera was. From the 1984 version (starring John Hurt) of _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ to the Oscar-winning Il Postino, Radford has quietly built an impressive body of work.

Radford's follow-up to Il Postino is B. Monkey, a crime-drama-...-romance based on Andrew Davies' amusing novel about a young criminal lass (played here

by the delectable Asia Argento) who tries to break free of her small-time criminal pals (rising stars Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Rupert Everett) after meeting, and being wooed by, a primary school teacher (the ubiquitous Jared Harris) who is the very essence of stolid middle-class morality.

Don't get me wrong-- the main reason to watch this movie is Asia Argento, who (as I've said before) has since turning eighteen adopted the "early Helen Mirren" style of acting-- wear nothing but a come-hither glower and look really good. But if you can get your tongue off the floor, both Everett and Rhys-Meyers give us performances that show exactly why they're becoming two of the hottest properties on the British film scene. Everett is charming and urbane, even while being tracked down by a psychotic crime boss; Rhys-Meyers throw temper tantrums with the best of them, but slides into a cool professionalism when it's time to pull off a heist.

A gorgeous (if somewhat slow halfway through-- it does pick up, honest) way to kill an hour and a half. *** 1/2

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A moving little film from the director of Il Postino, June 23, 2004

By 

O. B. Tryggvason (Gardabaer Iceland) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: B. Monkey (DVD)

This is actually a quite wonderful little film.
Asia Argento is radiant as a thief who chances to meet (and enchant) a nerdish, but goodhearted, teacher who completely falls head over heels in love with her (who wouldn't?). In an effort to change lifestyles and settle down, she can't quite get rid of her past and this puts a strain on her newfound boyfriend and her new existence.
All the leads are sensational (Rupert Everett a particular scene stealer) and the film is moving all the way.
Rumours are that a large portion was left on the cutting room floor and it took the film three years to get released, but it doesn't show easily. Highly recommended.