Cast: Melanie Griffith, John Goodman, Don Johnson, Edward Hermann
Director: Luis Mandoki
Producer: D. Constantine Conte
Screenplay: Douglas McGrath
Cinematography: Lajos Koltai
Music: George Fenton
U.S. Distributor: Hollywood Pictures
Powerful, multi-millionaire business man Harry Brock (John Goodman) has come to Washington to bribe a few senators to keep one of his business ventures afloat. Along with him is his airheaded mistress, Billie Dawn (Melanie Griffith). After Billie has embarrassed Harry at one-too-many social functions, he hires Paul Verrall (Don Johnson), a respected journalist, to "smarten her up". But, as Paul sets to work on Billie, Harry comes to realize that he's getting more than he bargained for.
The original 1950 Born Yesterday, directed by George Cukor and starring Judy Holliday, William Holden, and Broderick Crawford, is an occasionally-amusing, but mostly-flat film, and certainly not deserving of this kind of straightforward updating. If anything, Born Yesterday was in need of a major reworking -- something that writer Douglas McGrath, for whatever reason, was unwilling to do.
For any kind of success, contrived plots like this rely on strong, likable characters. When such characters are not present, the whole project sinks like a stone. Such is the case with Born Yesterday. At least there are a few humorous anecdotes which save the movie from becoming terminally tedious. However, one scene that is supposed to be cute -- a rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with the amendments of the Constitution replacing the days -- is embarrassingly bad. Also, for a movie that's supposed to be lighthearted, there's a disturbingly-real depiction of abuse.
John Goodman is the only cast member who gives a tolerable performance. Like many good actors given unredeemably bad guys to play, Goodman has a tendency to go a little too far, but, even as he chews on the scenery, he's enjoyable. The same can't be said of either of his co-stars. Melanie Griffith is at least better here than in Shining Through or A Stranger Among Us, but not by much. Admittedly, Billie isn't much of a role, but Griffith appears incapable of doing any real acting, whether the medium is comedy or drama. She was good in Something Wild, competent in Working Girl and Paradise, and downright awful in everything else. Don Johnson is so stiff that he's uncomfortable to watch. Given his off-screen relationship with Griffith, one would expect some sort of spark, but there's no chemistry evident.
There's little (if anything) to recommend this movie -- another lame duck to add to Hollywood Pictures' ever-growing collection. With the combination of helium-voiced Melanie Griffith and an anemic script, the quality of Born Yesterday -- or lack thereof -- should be obvious.
© 1993 James Berardinelli