Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 13, 2004 | | Summary | I never saw the original, version, so I loved it. | Content
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John Goodman and Melanie Griffith played their parts suberbly.
This is about a millionaire scrap metal tycoon who turns real estate mogul (John Goodman) whose clueless girlfriend (Melanie Griffith) finds herself without a clue in the Washington-Merrie-Go-Round. So her boyfriend (Goodman) hires Paul Verrall (Don Hohnson) to help her with the special skills, small talk, etc. A problem: boyfriend Goodman, like almost everyone else, as the story demonstrates, are not nearly as smart as they lead everyone else to believe, like the reporter for NPR who pretends to have read de Toqueville, but has not, as Griffith discovers. It is all an act, designed to impress others. The script is so true to life, full of flakes and phonies, that it is almost laughable. A great movie, and one you will probably remember for a long time. It shows how we all get bullied by the people with real power over us. Very entertaining, too. Joseph (Joe) Pierre
author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and mainenance
and other books |
| Rating | | | Date | December 07, 2003 | | Summary | So it's a remake!?! | Content
| Who cares? If I want to watch the original and I feel that strongly about it, then that's what I'll do - stick to the original. In this case, I enjoyed this particular remake very much. It's not the original, no, but it's pure entertainment. I found it to be fresh and engaging. If you only wanna see the original, then skip the remake, but if you're willing to open your mind to a new script with some different actors, then sit back, relax, and enjoy the escapism. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 12, 2003 | | Summary | The Original is BETTER! | Content
| This movie deserves zero stars. Avoid any version (VHS or DVD) of it!See the original in all its Glorious black and white beauty! The original is a million times better than this trite,stale re-hash with a not-very-talented cast. This a remake that should never have been made,it is horrible! To even suggest that Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson could recapture the charm and sparkle of Judy Holliday & William Holden is preposterous! Melanie Griffith has got to be one of the worst actresses ever, and she butchers this role. As for Don Johnson, it takes more than a pair of horn-rimmed glasses to pretend he is William Holden. John Goodman has the right girth and maybe a bit of the swagger and behaves like a brutish lout to compare with Broderick Crawford in the original "Born Yesterday". But just because the three leads in this remake may look or sound a little like the 3 Academy Award winning talents that were in the original cast, does not mean the movie will work. There is good reason why a remake hadn't been attempted for over 30 years--the film is so good, why mess with it? That's what this version is, a mess!
Hollywood insists on tinkering with classics like this to try to bring them to a new audience, but most of the time, they fail, miserably. How many times (and millions of dollars later)do they need to be reminded of this? To borrow that old joke,(when somebody is trying to 'put one over on you'), "...let me check my driver's license, to see if I wasn't born yesterday " :
Don't get fooled by this movie.It is wretched! Run, don't walk far,far, away from this one!Avoid it like the plague.
Rent or buy the original BORN YESTERDAY, you'll be glad you did! |
| Rating | | | Date | January 24, 2003 | | Summary | Fun but just doesn't come up to par with the original... | Content
| Melanie Griffith stars in this 1993 film as Billie Dawn, an ex-showgirl bimbo to millionaire businessman Harry Brock (John Goodman). Unbeknownst to the 'slightly' stupid and clueless Billie, Harry has a plan to lobby agendas that are friendly to his construction plans. He goes off to Washington DC to start his campaign taking Billie along with him. After a while, Billie is found to be an incredible embarrassment to all social situations, forcing Harry to make a quick decision. Instead of sending her away, he gets reporter Paul Verrall (Don Johnson) to help Billie 'get some more smarts'. While Billie begins to fall for the handsome reporter, she also discovers herself becoming intelligent and starts questioning her boyfriend. When I watched the 1950 version of the movie "Born Yesterday", I instantly fell in love with it. With the incredible acting done by Judy Holliday and William Holden, "Born Yesterday" is just a classic! So when I saw the 1993 version at the rental store, I just had to see how it would be. Unfortunately, the movie just suffered by comparison to the original though standing by itself it's not that bad. The story itself pretty much stays along the guidelines of the original plot. It was a bit disappointing though that a sense of the patriotism Americdans have towards their country isn't given to the viewer at all. When Judy Holliday was going all over Washington DC visiting all the sites, for example the White House, you couldn't help but be drawn through the visits yourself. The movie has it's very funny moments, but some of the time the lines just didn't seem to be delivered well. The best acting in the movie was done by Don Johnson and John Goodman. Don Johnson is DEFINITELY no William Holden, but he does hold his character together. Plus I couldn't really compare William Holden with Johnson since their characters were different. In my opinion, if they really wanted to cast someone as William Holden, I would have chosen Kevin Costner or Robert Redford, who I'm sure could have done it fairly well. John Goodman was just incredible, I could see a lot of "The Babe" from him in which he starred as Babe Ruth. Unfortunately, Melanie Griffith was pretty awful, sorry to say. While Judy Holliday had gotten an Oscar award for best actress, Melanie Griffith received the Razzie award for worst actress. I don't know about being the worst actress, but I do agree she just couldn't seem to handle her character of Billie. The movie is rated PG for some innuendos and language so parents should be sure to watch with younger kids. I can't say I really recommend this movie but I do urge people to see it if they were interested. But I must I can recommend people to see the 1950 version "Born Yesterday". Certainly a fantastic movie, it's a family favorite of mine and I HIGHLY recommend it! |
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