Born Yesterday

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Born Yesterday

1950

1h 43m

Comedy

Drama

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Popcornmeter

95%

Tomatometer

83 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Brassy blonde moll Billie Dawn (Judy Holliday) hits Washington, D.C., with her unscrupulous millionaire sugar daddy, Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford), and his sleazy lawyer, Jim Devery (Howard St. John), who has been pressuring Harry to marry Billie by pointing out that a wife cannot be forced to testify against her husband. In an effort to make Billie more socially acceptable, Harry hires journalist Paul Verrall (William Holden) to smarten her up -- and sparks soon fly between the pair.

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Critics Consensus

Marrying screwball romance with political satire, Born Yesterday is a substantive romp with a ferociously smart performance by Judy Holliday as an uncouth bombshell.

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SMH Staff

Sydney Morning Herald

Oct 13, 2025

Bound to be a smash hit both for the expert fun of the dialogue and for the marvelously comic characterizations given by Judy Holliday and Broderick Crawford.

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Myles Standish

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Oct 13, 2025

George Cukor's direction apparently has deliberately allowed waiting periods for audience laughter after some of Miss Holliday's best lines, the first time to my knowledge this has been done on screen.

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John Hobart

San Francisco Chronicle

Oct 13, 2025

Thanks largely to a small, very blonde and very deft actress named Judy Holliday, Garson Kanin's famous comedy, Born Yesterday, is now a brilliant movie.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Oct 21, 2025

3/4

Judy Holliday delivers a wonderful performance and perhaps might have deserved that Oscar in a less competitive year..

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Honolulu Star-Advertiser Staff

Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Oct 13, 2025

The film's top merit is the acting of Judy Holliday.

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Mitch Woodbury

Toledo Blade

Oct 13, 2025

Producer S. Sylvan Simon, Director George Cukor and scenarist Albert Mannheimer have done a masterful job in translating the Kanin caper into terms of celluloid.

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Michael Edwards T

@Mikedbigame Apr 9, 2026

Fans of All About Eve, love to complain that Bette Davis was robbed of an Oscar by Judy Holiday... I'm convinced those people never watched Born Yesterday or Judy Holiday's performance. One of the best Female comedic performances of the Golden age.

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Omar H

@RT58361111 Oct 15, 2025

classical classic gg!

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David H

@DavidQHarris Nov 16, 2024

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.

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John G

@RT30749950 Mar 5, 2024

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.

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Alec B

@Alec97 Jan 5, 2024

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.

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William R. P

@Ogn_Dulk Jul 4, 2023

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

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George Cukor

Director

Judy Holliday

Emma "Billie" Dawn

William Holden

Paul Verrall

Broderick Crawford

Harry Brock

Howard St. John

Jim Devery

Frank Otto

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Synopsis

Brassy blonde moll Billie Dawn (Judy Holliday) hits Washington, D.C., with her unscrupulous millionaire sugar daddy, Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford), and his sleazy lawyer, Jim Devery (Howard St. John), who has been pressuring Harry to marry Billie by pointing out that a wife cannot be forced to testify against her husband. In an effort to make Billie more socially acceptable, Harry hires journalist Paul Verrall (William Holden) to smarten her up -- and sparks soon fly between the pair.

Director: George Cukor
Producer: S. Sylvan Simon
Screenwriter: Albert Mannheimer
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 26, 1950, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2013
Runtime: 1h 43m

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