Born Yesterday (1993 film)

Born Yesterday
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLuis Mandoki
Screenplay byDouglas McGrath
Based onBorn Yesterday
1946 play
by Garson Kanin
Produced byStratton Leopold
D. Constantine Conte
Chris Soldo
Stephen Traxler
Starring
CinematographyLajos Koltai
Edited byLesley Walker
Music byGeorge Fenton
Production
companies
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date
  • March 26, 1993 (1993-03-26)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$17,952,857

Born Yesterday is a 1993 American comedy film based on the play of the same name by Garson Kanin. It stars Melanie Griffith, John Goodman, and Don Johnson. It was adapted by Douglas McGrath and directed by Luis Mandoki.

It is a remake of the 1950 film of the same name that starred Broderick Crawford, Judy Holliday (in an Oscar-winning performance), and William Holden.

Plot

Businessman Harry takes his girlfriend Billie to elite parties with politicians. Billie's background as a showgirl makes her uncultured, and she innocently makes socially inept remarks on political issues. Harry thinks she can be taught, so he hires a reporter Paul to show her the ropes.

While educating Billie, Paul kisses her, but Harry doesn't suspect anything. Paul teaches Billie a few sentences to make her appear intelligent, and she impresses people at a party. Harry congratulates Paul for Billie's improvement, but Billie feels like a ventriloquist dummy. Paul slowly falls in love with Billie.

Harry routinely asks Billie to sign some papers, creating companies in her name, which she is unaware of. After studying with Paul, Billie starts to read the documents Harry offers her to sign. This makes Harry angry and he slaps her, but she signs them anyway. Harry also shouts at a senator, incurring the disapproval of Billie.

Billie goes to Paul thinking she may have signed illegal documents. She helps Paul break into Harry's safe and steal the documents. Paul skims through the papers and learns that all the companies are in Billie's name. He also finds evidence of Harry illegally bribing senators.

Meanwhile, Harry is shopping for a wedding ring, and comes to the hotel room with flowers, and proposes to Billie, but she rejects his proposal. Harry then goes to look at the documents in his safe, but finds them missing. Billie reveals that Paul took the documents to publish in his paper. Paul arrives and kisses Billie, who declares that she wants to marry Paul.

She tells Harry that she will return his companies back to him at the rate of one a year. She also urges him to get back the bribe money from the senators and wind up his illegal business activities.

Cast

Reception

Reviews to Born Yesterday were mostly negative. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 25% based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 4.1/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Not even Melanie Griffith's charisma can inject fresh energy into this ill-conceived remake, which awkwardly retreads through the classic original's story without any of its charm."[1] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F.[2]

Melanie Griffith was nominated for the 1993 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performance in the film, where she lost to Madonna for her work in Body of Evidence.

References

  1. ^ "Born Yesterday (1993)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  2. ^ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Born Yesterday (1993 film).


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.