Born Yesterday | |
Producer: | Stratton Leopold D. Constantine Conte Chris Soldo Stephen Traxler |
Director: | Luis Mandoki |
Screenplay: | Douglas McGrath |
Music: | George Fenton |
Cinematography: | Lajos Koltai |
Editing: | Lesley Walker |
Studio: | Hollywood Pictures Touchwood Pacific Partners I |
Distributor: | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Runtime: | 100 minutes |
Country: | United States |
Language: | English |
Gross: | $17,952,857 |
Born Yesterday is a 1993 American comedy film based on Born Yesterday, a play 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.
A wealthy but crude businessman, Harry Brock, on a trip to the nation's capital, is socially embarrassed by his ditzy, uncultured showgirl girlfriend, Billie Dawn. He hires a reporter, Paul Verrall, to educate her ("teach her the ropes").
Harry comes to regret his idea when Billie not only becomes more savvy, questioning his unscrupulous deals and rebelling against his bullying, but also falls in love with Paul.
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.