The notion of weakly monotone functions was introduced, in the setting of Sobolev spaces, by J.Manfredi, in connection with the analysis of the regularity of maps of finite distortion appearing in the theory of nonlinear elasticity. We propose a criterion for the continuity of weakly monotone functions in terms of the decreasing rearrangement of their gradient. We also prove the continuity of weakly monotone functions whose gradient is in suitable rearrangement-invariant spaces. In particular, weakly monotone functions with gradient belonging to an Orlicz space or to a Lorentz space are discussed. These results are contained in joint works with Andrea Cianchi.