The Tracy-Hepburn team was soon to take over the William Powell-Myrna Loy post as MGM's favorite, not-so-domestic duo, and Woman of the Year, their first film together, directed by George Stevens, contains all the reasons for their popularity. Out of an intelligent and also very funny script by Ring Lardner, Jr. and Michael Kanin, the actors fashioned witty and absorbing characters; many critics considered this to be Hepburn's best performance up to that time. She portrays a sophisticated political columnist with a grasp on world events and a list of connections and kudos from here to China. Tracy's earthy sports writer can't play ball with that kind of high-brow and endeavors to rope her in, make her one of the people. Their clash of wills and temperaments makes for warm romance with an unsentimental punch; Hepburn trying to make sense of her first baseball game is a memorable movie moment. But bringing her patrician spirit down to earth also involves a number of domesticating rituals--like the humiliation of learning to cook breakfast--that might leave an ambiguous aftertaste for modern viewers.