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Best movie of this year hands down!

Overrated and overhyped

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Lemmon was excellent as the chimp at the zoo. He jumped on the fencing like a total idiot, and I feel that this is one of those good acting assignments that a director would ask: "Be a chimp at the zoo. Be a robot in a laboratory. Be an alien from outer space." You get the picture. Lemmon even asked the crowd to throw peanuts at him, but alas, they got carried away. But I digress . . .Lawford smarmy. I liked his character better in "Good News". The car in this movie was fabulous. Gladys should have known she would be taken for a ride, and not in the innocent sense. Lemmon was right that Lawford was a masher, and Gladys was too naive to see it.Judy the greatest. She also had a great dramatic part in "Adam's Rib", being questioned on the witness stand by Katharine Hepburn. In "It Should Happen", Judy is that wide-eyed bumpkin with a naive notion of NYC fame. Today, in stereotypical parlance, she wouldn't be walking in the park alone, and talking with strangers. Her bare feet would be running into used "medical" needles and other such trash. She might certainly be hit up by panhandlers and other such bums.In this movie, Judy meets up early with an idiot who only wants to fight with her in the park. Later, she meets him again at the water fountain. Maybe today, he would catch a disease at the fountain. Good thing I never saw him again in the movie.Gladys certainly had faith in herself. Even if no one else did, all of a sudden when she showed the cash she was almost taken seriously. Too bad Lawford was such a schmuck to want to do her out of her famous 15 minutes.I liked the singing parts between Judy and Lemmon. Did they do their own singing? They are all gone now. Judy, Lemmon and Lawford. I do like to look back at their old movies.12/10

One of the reasons I didn't know this film must be the terrible, forgettable title. However, it's a lovely film. What a debut for Jack Lemmon! Assured, slick, great timing. Pete Sheppard was the only character that didn't verge on caricature. Judy Holliday is great as the scatty, crazy, fame-seeker, and just about convinces as Gladys' character develops. Flimsy plot, but a subject worth dealing with: the pointlessness of fame for its own sake. Current generation of kids, take note!Nice shots of 1950s New York and portrayal of the excitement of live TV broadcasting.

IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU is a fluffy comedy about a girl (JUDY HOLLIDAY in another dumb blonde role) who fancies seeing her name on a billboard even if she has to put it there herself. PETER LAWFORD is the head of a corporation that wants to use the empty billboard to advertise their soap product. JACK LEMMON, in his film debut, plays the kind of role he would play many times over throughout his career--a carefree guy in love with an empty-headed woman.It's true that none of the characters are particularly likable, but these three go about their paces with such personal charm that you tend to forget their characters are really pretty obnoxious people.George Cukor directs with skill and the result is a likable enough comedy that manages to keep the laugh meter busy for most of its running time.Summing up: Harmless fun with Judy Holliday at her best and Peter Lawford proving that he should have attempted more light comedy roles.

Judy Holliday was very lucky that she and Garson Kanin worked together so frequently. He had written the Broadway play BORN YESTERDAY that made her a stage star. He wrote the screenplay for her first major film, ADAM'S RIB, with his wife Ruth Gordon. Aided immeasurably by the directing of George Cukor, their success record continued in 1954 with IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU. While BORN YESTERDAY dealt with political corruption, and ADAM'S RIB with the equality of the sexes in the law (in the extreme case of the use of the so-called "unwritten law"), IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU is about the nature of fame and notoriety in modern society.Gladys Glover (Judy) gets the idea of renting a large billboard near New York City's Columbus Circle, and having her photograph put on it. She's not afraid of doing such a nutty idea - she is a professional model. But her billboard would be advertising just her - not a product or company. The billboard has traditionally been used as the central ad-board for a soap corporation, owned by aristocratic and handsome Peter Lawford. He proceeds to try to romance Judy to get her to give up her lease of the board (which will end in a few months). But the huge degree of notice the board brings to Judy turns her life around. Although she has no message for the public, the public embraces her.The one active critic she meets is a good looking young documentary maker, who can't see what she is gaining by this. It is not that Judy needs fame - she seems quite level headed. Moreover, the young man is growing jealous at the attentions showed by Lawford to her. He's a really nice young fellow (who would appear in another film with Judy shortly afterward). His name was Jack Lemmon. Usually people thinking of Lemmon's long career recall MR. ROBERTS as his first role. His performance as Ensign Pulver did win an Oscar, but he had made about three movies before that film, and his first role is here.Michael Shea is also in the film, as a critic who first dismisses Judy as a fiction, like "Kilroy", but subsequently becomes an evil genius to her - becoming her overly forceful agent. And Judy does have to go through some real soul searching here as she determines whether notoriety and fame is worth the trouble it brings.The film is funnier than this description may suggest. It ranks behind THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC and BORN YESTERDAY as her best comic performance, completing an interesting trilogy commentary on society in the U.S. at mid-century.