Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

jarrodmcdonald-1 Looking at other user reviews on the IMDb I realize people seem fairly divided-- they either consider GOVERNMENT GIRL a lot of fun and rate it highly, or else they find it pretty awful and rate it low. I think the film has merit but is very problematic on many levels. I'm giving it a score of 7, which is above the current average. My primary issue with it is how the story goes in several directions. It was like Dudley Nichols couldn't decide whether it should be a screwball comedy or if it should be a patriotic endorsement of bombers. I'm uncomfortable with the main message of GOVERNMENT GIRL, but it obviously had an impact in its day because it was a big hit for RKO.As for how GOVERNMENT GIRL relates to the subject of women during wartime, it's very uneven. Anne Shirley's character is rather juvenile (sort of like Anne of Green Gables getting married to a much older man then leaving Matthew and Aunt Marilla behind for Washington). Olivia's character has her moments of strength and intelligence, but she overplays it in a highly exaggerated farcical manner which seems to undercut the role and any values it might represent. I don't think women viewers would have found Olivia or Anne to be playing types they would like to emulate. The most interesting woman in the picture is Agnes Moorehead's society matron, but she doesn't have a lot of screen time.

tigger-100 I only saw this movie once on AMC (before they started showing recent "classics". I loved it. Sure, it is a war propaganda film, loaded with patriotism. Sure it is written to the largely female audiences of the time. Sure, it is a pale imitation of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "His Girl Friday". It is still a fun, witty, movie.It is also possibly the best use of Washington, DC as a location. They get the geography right. "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (one of my favorites) has people going in every direction. "Government Girl" keeps everything in its place. Also, it provides an historic look at wartime DC.Tell me where I can find this movie, as I would love to see it again.

Neil Doyle De Havilland found herself obligated to do GOVERNMENT GIRL when David O. Selznick borrowed her from Warner Bros. (he lent them Ingrid Bergman) and then sold her services to RKO for one picture. She didn't like the script and it looks as though she got her revenge by overacting the title role, which would have been okay if the material itself was funny. But this lame wartime comedy about overcrowded Washington never quite gets off the ground.Sonny Tufts does what he can with a thankless role as a bungling, naive politician who has to learn the ropes from his pretty secretary. Agnes Moorehead gets in a couple of good quips as a snobbish Washington matron and Jess Barker is likable enough in a secondary romantic lead.James Dunne and Ann Shirley tend to overplay their roles as a couple of lovestruck newlyweds eager to find lodgings. Despite its obvious flaws, the film was a moderate success for RKO at the box-office and wartime audiences seemed to go for it. De Havilland fans aren't likely to rate this among her best comedies.

otter I used to think that Olivia DeHavilland could do no wrong. I'd only seen her in good films, where she was usually perfect. Remember her incredible performances in "Gone With The Wind", "Robin Hood", "The Heiress", "Captain Blood", and even in "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte"?Little did I know the kind of scenery-chewing she's capable of when left without a script or a leading man!This could never have been anything but a formulaic yawner, a didactically patriotic wartime comedy about a dynamic Young Bureaucrat and His Girl Friday would have been deadly even if they had cast Tracy and Hepburn. But in the hands this bad it becomes almost worth watching!