This really isn't my kind of film, but I enjoyed it. It's a nice escape film, so watch it when you're in the doldrums. It'll perk you up, and it'll make you laugh.

Judy Holliday is what it's all about - funny and charming alternately. Her fiance thug is over-played. The tour of monuments and institutions In DC comes across well.

Both Holden and Holliday are great (no surprises there) but it's also a little too self important for what is a pretty silly plot.

Is that that woman's real voice? It's painfully annoying

This film about a dumb blonde engaged to a con man scrap dealer who undertakes an education at the urging of her fiance who has made her an officer of his many many criminal entities is the ultimate air-head comedy. It feels like the inspiration for "Legally Blonde", "The House Bunny", and countless other similar films. At times it is very funny and it does teach the important lesson not to underestimate anybody or judge a book by its cover. While it mostly unfolds in a couple of hotel room suites in Washington D.C. where the con man has come to corrupt a Congressman, there are a handful of wonderful on location scenes filmed in the Capitol, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Library of Congress.

If for no other reason watch this for Judy Holiday's performance. Brilliantly written and acted.

One of the best american classic comedies ever ! Judy Holliday is incredible and won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her performance.

One of Garson Kanin's best studies of human nature on display. Only Frank Capra might have been able to create such a telling representation of various personalities - with all their virtues and failings so lovingly displayed. The marvellous (and sadly missed) Judy Holiday here demonstrates why she was one of the very few ‘GREATS'. On the surface, it can at times look deceptively simple but as with most of Kanin's writings spoke volumes about the best and worst of our race. The comedy can be subtle or at times outlandishly broad but what is being said is understandable the world over. Very nicely directed by Cukor with valuable contributions from veteran cinematographer Joseph Walker (Mr Smith Goes To Washington") it uses all its limited settings to the absolute best professional advantage. If you can't enjoy this classic then it could be that it's about you! So look closely. This is the film that his famous line came from: "I want everyone to be smart (wise). As smart as they can be. A world of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in" Kanin, like his much-admired Capra, had embedded in his comedic situations acute dramatic observations of the lurking evil in human nature - something to be understood on all levels and abolished. This is personified perfectly by Broderick Crawford in his powerful, crass gangster role – bullying his ‘dumb blond' girlfriend (and everyone else) into being an unwitting pawn in his evil empire. Funny, dramatic and insightful, should be enjoyed by all sophisticated audiences. The Columbia Studio Classics DVD has been lovingly remastered and released on a high-quality pressed, consumer disc (unlike some of the WB M.O.D. releases).

A blast with great performances.

I can see why this was such a success in 1950, but the overtly theatrical staging, and Broderick Crawford's permanent over-acting, doesn't work so well today. Judy Holliday's caricature of the dumb blond transformed is iconic, and is the reason to see this film.

Judy Holiday and Broderick Crawford are hilarious! Loved the scene where Judy (Billie Dawn) is "singing" I Can't Give You Anything But Love, as Crawford gets more and more aggravated.

In my opinion comedy films from the 1950s have not aged particularly well as while I am charmed by the goofy, aw shucks humor of Pillow Talk (1959) and The Quiet Man (1952) they don't make me laugh out loud. The problem with Born Yesterday is that it has all of the canned dialogue and stiff delivery that I expect from this era of comedy films but doesn't feature the charming characters and emotionally touching scenes. I felt mildly annoyed by the characters in this film throughout and while I never actively disliked the film it never really captured and held my interest while never producing a moment that caused me to have any emotional response. Corrupt tycoon Harry Brock, Broderick Crawford, comes into Washington D.C. hoping to make crooked deals and swindle people out of their money. He carries out his affairs under the name of his dimwitted girlfriend Billie Dawn, Judy Holliday, who he emotionally and physically abuses. She begins to learn and grow when Brock assigns her to journalist Paul Verrall, William Holden, for education on literature. The two predictably fall in love and Dawn begins to realize that Brock is using her to protect himself if his actions are ever discovered. She outsmarts him by offering to sell him back his property slowly if he agrees to let her and Verrall continue their relationship in peace. The big comedic moments in the film are clearly meant to come during the Pygmalion-esque sequences in which we see the clash between the educated teacher and the uneducated but well meaning student. The humor doesn't really come though as the soft, reedy voice that Holliday adopts could have been funny in small doses but irritates when heard throughout and the quips don't fly fast enough to elicit a giggle from a modern audience member. If you compare the film to others based on Pygmalion I realize that I may just not like this story as I feel real hatred for My Fair Lady (1964) and Pgmalion (1938) but I found one version of the story that I did like was Educating Rita (1983) and this was because the literary references were so specific and the lead actors so charismatic that it is easy to forgive the flaws of the production. This film is probably known best for Judy Holliday's notorious Best Actress victory over Bette Davis and Anne Baxter in All About Eve (1950) and Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950). This victory is ridiculous because not only are her competition giving some of the most iconic performances of all time in classic films while Born Yesterday and Holliday's performance in it have been largely forgotten but Holliday isn't even very good here. She doesn't have any real screen presence as she fails to carry us through what should be an enjoyable piece of light, fluffy entertainment that leaves us happy at the fact that our hero and heroine are united. We aren't taken by Holliday, who lacks in charm beyond her perky little face, while we are utterly bowled over by Swanson in Sunset Boulevard who should have walked away easily with the Best Actress Academy Award. The rest of the cast don't do much to liven up affairs either as Holden, so good in The Country Girl (1954), is blank as the romantic lead to Holliday's leading lady. The two fail to generate much chemistry but you would hope that an actor as respected as Holden would be able to inject the film with some sense of gravitas or weight as he clearly struggles with comedy. Crawford does not chew the scenery enough to be an entertaining villain as he seems to think he's still in All the King's Men (1949). I am surprised by the amount of critical acclaim that this film has received and by the amount of Academy Award nominations it received as 1950 was a year that produced some of the greatest films of all time and it is sad that this film was thrown in there amongst them. I am sure there are some very funny comedies that came out of the 1950s that I just have not seen yet but for now, based on what I have seen, films like this should be stayed away from.

Broderick Crawford overacts throughout the movie and is one dimensional because of it. William Holden cannot be "heard" when Crawford is screaming in the same room. A very uneven film, and hard to classify as a "comedy", this film has a ring of truth to it that is underdeveloped. Judy Holliday is fine at first as the totally ignorant stereotypical blonde from New York, but she grates on your nerves as the minutes progress. Is anyone this dumb? If so, how could they learn so fast? Oh, it's just another problem with the movie, and there are many. I like Judy Holliday, but this does not showcase her talents well.

Both Holden and Holliday are great (no surprises there) but it's also a little too self important for what is a pretty silly plot.

Just one of the bests films ever. Each actor in each scene is great.

I understand that Judy Holliday is playing a character but it took a long time to warm up to her with her very annoying voice. Outside of that she did her part very well and the film addresses some really important issues. When people want you to feel bigger than you they will try to stifle any attempt that may make them feel inferior, and this is seen in the interactions between the Brock and Emma characters. It's a much too common form of abuse that helps to keep the one that is not in control unable to escape the control of the abuser. I loved the progression of the film and it's ideas about educating the public and even someone others might find too far gone to help, despite the film's mistake in thinking that America is a democracy. Similar to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington the film uses the monuments of our nation's capital to drive home it's message of anti-lobbying and shaming corruption in government. People need to educate themselves on the issues and vote; it serves no purpose to remain ignorant and complain about how your life sucks. However, as Paul says, you can not vote in a government based on selfishness that only benefits you and your group or you end up with Fascism. Good film, though some of the acting ruined the experience a little for me, otherwise the rating would have been higher.

Fun RomCom. Great characterization by Judy Holliday.

What a brutal movie! I hadn't seen it in years, and thought I remembered it as a fluff piece, but it is NOT that! The brutal, venal, Broderick Crawford humiliates and batters his girlfriend (Holliday) all the way through. He is pretty much a match for one of our current high-profile politicians. When Holliday discovers her brain, it's magic. She was an amazing actress and telegraphs the sparks that come from Billie's discovery of a wider world expertly. There are lots of comic parts, but the very realistic portrayals of cynicism, moral conflict and discovery are worth seeing this tough movie over again.

First time seeing this. LOVED Judy Holliday!! Funny Funny Funny

What was billed as a political comedy in 1950 has become a grim reminder of how recently domestic violence was an accepted part of our culture. We now cringe at Broderick Crawford's despicable Harry Brock, yet greet the film's intended target, an unethical and politically corrupt Washington, with blissful ambivalence. Judy Holliday's Oscar winning turn is possibly even more effective, now that we no longer confuse the painful resignation in her eyes with humor.