It Should Happen to You (1954)

Directed by George Cukor. Starring Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, Peter Lawford, Michael O’Shea, Vaughn Taylor, Connie Gilchrist, Whit Bissell.

Flyweight comedy with a daffy premise. Holliday plays Gladys Glover, a young woman with ambitions for fame who decides to rent a huge billboard in Manhattan just so she can plaster her name onto it. Rather than end up being a complete waste of time and money, however, a few twists of fate lead not only to bewildered word of mouth gradually turning her into a fad sensation, but also to her being pursued by two different men—a wealthy master of seduction (Lawford) and a smitten documentarian (Lemmon). A breezy lark, easy to take in, but hard to swallow; those with a sturdier tolerance for Holliday’s voice/delivery will rate this one higher. As her would-be suitors, Lemmon does the sort of thing he does best, but Lawford looks uncomfortable within the contours of light farce. A key scene towards the end demonstrates there is sometimes a thin line between the romantic and the creepy—results may vary. Lemmon’s first credited film role.

61/100