Ewell now has the life of a bachelor, at least for the summer. He promptly develops a close friendship with his upstairs neighbor, beautiful model Marilyn Monroe. Ewell is torn between his natural lust for Monroe and his wish to remain faithful to Keyes. Fidelity wins, but it's a close shave.
The Seven Year Itch was based on a successful Broadway play that also starred everyman Ewell. Its play origins are obvious as Ewell has many lengthy soliloquies, which usually involve Walter Mitty-style fantasies or paranoid panic attacks. Ewell, a thoroughly ordinary business executive, imagines himself first as an irresistible seducer of women, then as the victim of a jealous, wronged wife. Which shows that, in Production Code fashion, even if you only wish to do something taboo, you must also wish for punishment.
How others will see it. Director/writer Billy Wilder has a strong classic film following. But the real draw for this film is the presence of Marilyn Monroe. Most viewers will put up with Tom Ewell's 'riotous' camera mugging and mock delusions of grandeur only because they know another scene with Monroe is due soon.
How I felt about it. In the screenplay, Wacky janitor Robert Strauss refers to Monroe (with outrageous libido) as "a living doll." And understandably so. Not only does she look the part of an alluring blonde, she seems accessible instead of unattainable. Monroe's character is so friendly, nice, and even-tempered toward Ewell, it's as if she takes no notice that he is a dorky and eccentric man nearly old enough to be her father. Her whispering, childlike voice only increases her vulnerability.
But Ewell's bark is worse than his bite. The more obvious it becomes that Ewell might be able to sleep with her, the more his marital self-preservation instincts kick in. He won't have sex with her, regardless of his desire to, because in the end he is committed to his wife. However, that won't prevent him from being drawn to Monroe like a moth to a flame.
Ewell, then, wants to keep Monroe close, but not too close. Monroe's motivation is different. She sees Ewell as an agreeable companion whose odd behavior provides unexpressed amusement. It is inconceivable that she would be friendless in New York, and thus continually impose upon the willing Ewell. (It is equally unlikely that Ewell would have the latest bound volume of "U.S. Camera," but that is a minor quibble). Monroe's gushing stupid act is also implausible, unless she doesn't really exist at all, except as a fixture of Ewell's irrepressible imagination. This would explain why he is able to send brawny Sonny Tufts into slumberland with a single punch. And why he would make a cross-state trip to Ewell's Manhattan apartment solely to retrieve Bernard's paddle. Just buy the kid a new one.