Demônio de Mulher

I have a friend who has always wanted to be famous. Not famous for doing something, like writing a novel or acting in a movie or robbing a bank, but simply for existing.

Apparently, there have always been people like my friend, because It Should Happen to You is about a woman who comes up with a scheme for attaining fame unattached to greater purpose.

This movie could be described as likable actors making unlikable characters likable. Holliday, who begins the movie by obliviously tossing bird on a man, is a narcissist. Lemmon is the guy who claims he loves her yet continually harangues her. And sure, Holliday's idea is nuts, but why does Lemmon continually attacks her dream, and, for that matter, why on earth does he like her?

It is a tribute to Holliday that she manages to make it all work, exuding a mix of sex, innocence, softness and steel that suggests someone more interesting than the script is offering.

Holliday is funny and likable, and for that reason I'd say this is worth watching.

Holliday is radiant in this excellent comedy about a nobody who wants to be a somebody. It's the story of an average woman who devises a plan to plant her name on a billboard. She immediately hits it big, doing commercials and public appearances and the only one who sees the danger in it is her boyfriend, played by Lemmon, in his scene stealing film debut.

Holliday, a master of play on words is hilarious in this well made romance-comedy, perfectly paced and directed by George Cukor.

Aspiring model comes to New York and concocts a novel idea to advertise herself - her name on billboards. This is a pleasant little comedy that benefits tremendously from the presence of Holliday. In fact, she's the whole show as the kooky blonde named Gladys Glover, a simple, good-hearted young lady who revels in her 15 minutes of fame. It is lamentable that the actress had such a brief career before her untimely death. Lemmon makes his film debut here, establishing the sensitive, hyperactive good-guy persona that he would go on to play variations of pretty much throughout his career. This was the last of a half-dozen films that Kanin and Cukor collaborated on.

There's just something about a ditzy woman miraculously making herself a name that always seems to be a winner. I loved the way Gladys and Pete interacted throughout the entire story, through friendship, frustrations, unreturned feelings, and finally contented love.

It is certainly a feel-good movie, and accomplishes this task rather well. Recommended for all you touchy-feelies out there.

A true comedienne is something of a rarity. Judy Holliday will always be remembered as one of the stage and screen's finest comediennes. The problem facing top comedians has always been finding the right material to suit their talents. More often than not they find themselves saddled with inferior material, (Bob Hope, Peter Sellers, Jerry Lewis….the list goes on).

In her brief screen career Judy Holliday was fortunate in having vehicles that managed to show off her talents. Yet there remains a nagging sense that even a movie as successful as "It Should Happen to You", does not quite do Holliday justice. It's pleasant and amusing viewing, but ultimately Holliday deserved more.

A young Jack Lemmon proves an almost perfect foil for Holliday. In his very first screen role he is a pleasure to watch. As the years passed Lemmon began to lean more and more on his famed idiosyncrasies.

The theme of "It Should Happen to You" is as relevant as ever in its dealing with the public's fascination with vacuous celebrity. Clearly not much has changed over the past fifty years.