Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

ThiefHott Too much of everything

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Robert J. Maxwell Judy Holliday is an ordinary New Yorker, recently come to the city, who passes an empty billboard on Columbus Circle. "This sign for rent." She visits the agency and discovers the location is available for some two-hundred and fifty dollars. She's managed to save up that much and rents the sign for a month or two. What's going to be ON the sign? She thinks it over and decides it will just be her name in letters the size of "second coming" font -- GLADYS GLOVER. That's all.However, the agency has made an error. The sign at Columbus Circle has traditionally been rented to some sort of business run by Peter Lawford and his huge staff. Lawford is furious. He calls in Holliday and offers to buy it back. No, it wouldn't be right. Her mind is made up. Well, then, how about if we put your name up on signs in six other places and you yield Columbus Circle. Nope. Soon enough, people begin noticing her name and wondering about who she is. She's taken under the wing of show-biz pimp Michael O'Shea who gets her spots on television shows and puts her in commercials.At her walk-up apartment, Holliday has a next-door neighbor who is a sort of suitor and conscience, Jack Lemon. The idea of Holliday's sign disgusts him as a fornicating vulgarity. But, meanwhile, she is pursued by the slick, uber-rich Peter Lawford, who has that sign on his mind, though he wouldn't mind a bit of nookie on the side. He takes her to fancy night clubs in his Jag. She spots (gasp!) Walter Winchell! Holliday's mind, on the other hand, is in a whirl. She exalts in the presence of her name in big letters, but Lemon is telling her one thing and Lawford another. The end is predictable. She discovers that a famous name means nothing unless it stands for something. I swear I'm not making that up.Judy Holliday brings to the part a little of her dumb blond from "Born Yesterday" but in this case the trait is meant to be charming and, underneath that fustian search for fame, is a fundamentally intelligent and morally upright young lady. Lemon and Lawford are good in their roles. They seem almost meant for them.I don't know if the writers intended it but the movie is an interesting comment on being well known for being well known. The category covers a lot of untalented people whose names are universal. Who -- really -- is Lady GaGa? Where is Charisma Carpenter these days and what is she up to? The supermarket tabloids tell us things like "Brad and Shannon -- A Split?" I'm not even going to get INTO politics! Well -- I'll dip a toe in. "Joe the Plumber" rings a tinny little bell.The comedy is never hilarious, but sometimes smile inducing. No masterpiece but a low-key and light-hearted study of character and ethics.

arieliondotcom This is supposedly Jack Lemmon's first starring role and from the moment he appears you know it's going to be a great picture. (How ironic that such a great actor should debut using a movie camera!) Add to that the spark of Judy Holliday and the sparks start flying like a diamond in the sunlight. But, sadly, they are black and white sparks.Hopefully, that won't be offputting to too many people. But I'm afraid it will be. It's genuinely funny and endearing. Perfectly cast as you hate Peter Lawford for the skank I've always felt he was and immediately fall for Lemmon and Holliday. But because of one stupid decision to make the picture in black and white when (in 1954) it was common to make color movies...Especially when the script and stars are so colorful. Well, it's sad.So watch it, enjoy it and let the color of love at first sight brighten it up for you in spite of the lousy idea to shoot it in black and white.

Goodbye_Ruby_Tuesday IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU! is perhaps the most ironic film title ever in cinema, since the film examines the downside of being famous. I suppose it makes a good marketing ploy, directly addressing the audience, but it's so false that the only way it could ever work is either 1. as a satire or 2. referring to having the amazing Jack Lemmon (in his film debut) as a boyfriend.IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU! follows down-and-out model Gladys Glover who wants to be "somebody" at whatever cost, so she splurges her savings to rent a billboard just to put her name on it. After some entanglements over who gets the space, she becomes a celebrity over ludicrous circumstances. Her sweet documentary-filmmaker boyfriend Pete just wants her anonymous, wonderful self, and is understandably hurt when Gladys turns down dates in order to advance her "career." It is at the peak of her fame that she realizes that her celebrity is everything she's never wanted.This is a film that could've fallen apart with so many other directors, but George Cukor was a master at that light comedic touch that keeps the movie sparkling, and also shows an early promise of the sharp look at celebrity that would be even more piercing with A STAR IS BORN only a year later. This was his third collaboration with Judy Holliday, and they seem to be among that elite group of a successful bonding between actor/director. The role of Gladys could so easily come off as unlikable (and she is at times in a naive way) during her determined rise to fame. The reason why the character is so endearing is because of Holliday's childishly wondrous performance, which captivates and enlightens. Her scenes with Jack Lemmon are magical, especially in that scene where they're both at the piano, he's talking, she's singing. It's marvelous and even exciting to see two actors with such an easy cadence interacting together, and those two had a very effortless chemistry. One of the main characters that I'd doubt will stir up much is attention is the provincial village of New York City itself, which is so beautifully photographed by Charles Lang it's as though you've walked into a postcard. From the opening romantic scene in Central Park to even the second-unit shots of Columbus Circle, this is a great example of a city becoming so integrated with a film it's impossible to imagine one without the other.Andy Warhol once predicted that "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU! deconstructs the mystique of celebrity and also accurately confirms Warhol's statement, which continues to be true with every new season of "American Idol." While many other films may have been sharper and harsher in their aim, few were this funny and warm-hearted with their characters.

evanston_dad 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