A smart and well constructed film on the whole. It starts of pretty strong with an introduction to all of the characters that is somewhat interesting. However it dulls considerably once you know everyone, and moves pretty slow as the plot gets set-up. After the first ten minutes, the next 40 or so are not good at all. They are well acted and directed enough, I suppose, but they are incredibly slow and uninteresting. Things happen but I felt very unnatatched and cared little for what was occurring. However as the central point of the film developed, and Billy's education was happening , it became considerably more engaging and often quite funny. And then the drama of the film came in-to play and Judy Holiday's performance really picked up, as did the writing. At this point the film became very engaging and went a long way to pick up the slack from the first half of the film. After that the conclusion comes along, which felt a little phoned in, but it was decent enough. All in all the film was quite solid, despite the dreadful first half. It makes some fascinating and necessary points about humanity and politics, and showcases the overall strong performance of William Holden, and the ocassionally great, generally solid performance of Judy Holliday. Sadly, it never even comes close to reaching the great heights of other films from this year. (and it is one of the greatest travesties of the oscars that Judy holliday won BAs over the startling marvelous performances of Gloria Swanson and Bette Davis.)
4/5.