It Should Happen to You (1954)

The Worst Film Ever

Simply Perfect

How sad is this?

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Why couldn't Judy Holliday sing the lovely songs in their entirety? She had a gifted voice. Instead, we only get partial lines.That being said, we have a very good comedy here with Judy Holliday, as Gladys Glover, losing her job as a model of girdles and walking in the park where she meets up with documentary film-maker Jack Lemmon. Lemmon encourages an upset Holliday who gets the idea to rent a billboard over Columbus Circle with her name. She soon meets up with a cad, the usually suave Peter Lawford, the latter wanting the sign for his soap business.The film is then devoted to competition for the affection of Holliday by both men, though in the case for Lawford, it's more for business.As Holliday gains notoriety, she still isn't happy and this just shows that money isn't everything.Connie Gilchrist is wasted here as the landlady who reminds Lemmon to pay his rent by Friday at 5P.M.

There's always plenty going on beneath the surface of a Garson Kanin script. And here, as in the eternally underrated Tom, Dick and Harry and The Rat Race, his real subject is the American Dream. Judy Holliday, who originated the lead in Kanin's Born Yesterday on stage and won an Oscar for it on screen, plays Gladys Glover, a newly-unemployed model whose plan to make a name for herself involves just that: plastering her name across a Columbus Circle billboard. It brings her fame, but as beau Jack Lemmon suggests in one telling, prescient exchange, she hasn't done anything to warrant it. And anyway, isn't it OK to be part of the crowd? The dialogue is absolutely scintillating, the satire spot-on and the performances from Holliday and Lemmon (in his big screen debut) spectacular.

This is one of those movies that could only be pulled off in the days of Golden Age Hollywood. The story is quite ludicrous, with Judy Holliday's character, in a last-ditch effort for fame, using her life savings to put up her name on a prominent billboard in New York City, and subsequently, through fortunate coincidences, becoming a famous model and spokesperson.That said though, the movie's still a delightful watch, thanks to the charms of Holliday and Jack Lemmon, whose debut performance this was. Judy Holliday plays such a lovable un-dumb blonde. She comes across as ditzy, but like the real person (Holliday reputedly had a high IQ), her character, while not shrewd, has enough savvy to get what she want and know what she won't put up with (e.g. her rich boss's amorous advances). And Lemmon, wow. Even before he became famous he already had that energetic Lemmon personality that would make him stand out in all his roles.It Should Happen to You was directed by George Cukor - one of my favorites, since he was known for being an actor's director and bringing out the best performances, as evident here.

Judy Holliday struck gold in 1950 withe George Cukor's film version of "Born Yesterday," and from that point forward, her career consisted of trying to find material good enough to allow her to strike gold again.It never happened. In "It Should Happen to You" (I can't think of a blander title, by the way), Holliday does yet one more variation on the dumb blonde who's maybe not so dumb after all, but everything about this movie feels warmed over and half hearted. Even Jack Lemmon, in what I believe was his first film role, can't muster up enough energy to enliven this recycled comedy. The audience knows how the movie will end virtually from the beginning, so mostly it just sits around waiting for the film to catch up.Maybe if you're enamored of Holliday you'll enjoy this; otherwise I wouldn't bother.Grade: C