People are voting emotionally.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Copyright 1 November 1949 by Loew's Inc. An MGM picture. New York opening at the Capitol: 25 December 1949. U.S. release: 18 November 1949. U.K. release: 17 April 1950. Australian release: 29 June 1950. 9,104 feet. 101 minutes. SYNOPSIS: A husband and wife are both attorneys. So one is signed for the defense and the other for the other party. And so, (you guessed it!), the courtroom squabbles spill over into their domestic life.NOTES: Sixth teaming of Tracy and Hepburn.The Kanins were nominated for the annual award given by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Story & Screenplay, losing to Sunset Boulevard.COMMENT: An intellectually exciting and stimulating re-working of several basic myths, splendidly acted. The script is so strong and the performers so capable, the director is often content to take an inconspicuous back seat by shooting in some of the longest, static takes on record - though he can be stylish when the occasion demands it. This philosophic pill is admirably sugar-coated with lashings of wit and humor and fascinating verbal by-play. The screen personalities of Tracy and Hepburn are set against one another with a clash that sends some delightful sparks flying and the support cast peoples the background with a wonderful parade of characters. Foremost in the supporting pack is David Wayne, playing a delightfully obnoxious Amanda-admirer, forever smirking, smiling and singing up the action. Judy Holliday (movie stardom was just around the corner) is also not to be missed, while Tom Ewell and Jean Hagen complete the amusingly nutty triangle.The Kanins start their satiric thrust at the sexes with a marvelous opening in which Holliday brilliantly parodies one of the dime romance's most staple situations: jealous wife shoots husband in femme fatale's apartment. Tracy and Hepburn are then introduced as husband-and-wife lawyers who are engaged by opposite sides at the subsequent trial. Upon this promising premise the comedy builds to a splendid climax. Mind you, it would not be half as funny without the skilled matching and point-scoring that only Hepburn and Tracy at their most charismatically abrasive could achieve. Cole Porter's song, catchy and glib, is mockingly utilized by Miklos Rosza, here showing an unexpected flair for comic effects. Sets and costumes are both attractive and appropriate. MGM's extra-special care even extended to the trailer, which - hilariously narrated by Pete Smith - is itself a little comedy gem.

On trial for attempted murder, having shot her husband who she caught being unfaithful, a young woman is prosecuted by a conservative lawyer while his pro-feminist wife defends her in this popular comedy starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy as the married lawyers in question. The film was clearly quite popular in its day, landing an Oscar nomination for its screenplay and a Golden Globe nomination for Judy Holliday's performance as the wife being defended, however, one's mileage as a contemporary viewer is likely to vary. Hepburn's rants about women never receiving equal rights in the eyes of the law grow tiresome very quickly and the way she twists the attempted murder case to be about sexism (rather than intent to kill) never quite feels right. Hepburn's personality could also only be described as abrasive at best here. While she has handful of light moments (poking faces at Tracy from under the courtroom benches), all her anger and bitterness towards the way women are supposedly discriminated against renders her a rather joyless person. Tracy fares better. His comedic fumbling about in court as his wife surprises him is never all that funny, but he has a superb moment involving some liquorice and his persona outside of court is nicely down-to-earth. In many ways, it is the quieter of the two main roles here, but the quietness allows Tracy to simply emote as opposed to grandstand for the most part. Tom Ewell and Jean Hagen also have solid supporting roles turns here, but Tracy is the one whose presence renders the film endurable.

Adam (Spencer Tracy) and Amanda Bonner (Katharine Hepburn) are husband and wife lawyers who end up on the opposite sides of a case. Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) follows her husband Warren (Tom Ewell) to his mistresses' apartment and shoots him. Adam is assigned to prosecute the wife and Amanda comes to her defense.The drawback for this rom-com is that they start off as already married. The point of most rom-coms is to bring the leads together. This one has to break them apart before getting them back together. Tracy and Hepburn have good chemistry together and have some good exchanges. They are fun together and well served by this vehicle. It's more of a movie about sex equality. The courtcase isn't very convincing. The movie outside of the Tracy Hepburn duo isn't that compelling. This is just simply about watching this classic team.

often billed as a funny battle of the sexes, it really isn't; it's no contest; tracy comes off as asoft-spoken guy who treats his wife pretty well; hepburn on the other hand is frequently strident and rude; he seems devoted to her while she constantly flirts with the neighbor; he treats her respectfully, she revels in humiliating him at home and at work in court; sure, some of the disconnected skits are funny, mainly helped by judy holiday, not hepburn; and his moment of ethical and legal revenge is instantly dismissed by her; overall needed more give and take like other tracy-hepburn movies, and less of the relentless, one-sided pounding where tracy in the end has to pull a girlish trick to win back the woman who treats him as an incompetent fool