The Awful Truth

Released Oct 21, 1937

1 hr. 32 min.

Comedy

List

91%

32 Reviews

Tomatometer

87%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Jerry (Cary Grant) and Lucy (Irene Dunne) are a married couple who doubt each other's fidelity: Jerry suspects Lucy and her music teacher (Alexander D'Arcy) of spending an evening together, and Lucy is convinced Jerry lied about a business trip. When the jealous pair file for divorce, both rush into new relationships, but quickly realize their love never died. The soon-to-be-divorced husband and wife then both scramble to spoil each other's chances for newfound romance.

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Critics Consensus

Great comic direction by Leo McCarrey and memorable onscreen chemistry from stars Cary Grant and Irene Dunne make this screwball comedy a charmer.

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Mark B

This film has really held up. It's hard to believe it's over 85 years old. The characters have almost no development or backstory -- we don't know how Cary Grant's Jerry Warriner got wealthy, nor do we really care, because Grant and Dunne have such tangible screen chemistry, and we just follow along. (#444 in my "watch all Best Picture Nominees" bucket list)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/23/24

Full Review

Blu B

A Classic screwball Rom-Com. Really very well made all around with a lot of wit, charm, and some suprisingly solid humor that holds up overall. Grant has a suprising knack for really good slapstick. The only real issues is that for most of the runtime there isn't much music outside of a few song numbers which are real good when used but it does have a bit of a dry feel most of the time. Also while it's clever, funny, and shot well it can be a bit on the basic side and probably would look better in color. The script can get a little confusing at times also but it works nicely overall and moves at a fast pace. I would also say most of the humor gets a chuckle oris over my head here and there at times and can be a bit surface level at times also. The ending is predictable also, but it's so well done it really isn't a big deal. Besides being a little rough around the edges this is really good. I would say anyone who is a fan of any actors in this, the director, screwball's, or Rom-Com's in particular would like this a lot. I think casual comedy fans may struggle a bit with this at times given the roughness at times.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

12/26/23

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Mike F

The original and still one of the all time best romantic comedies

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/25/23

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Sarah D

Another one of those movies that just makes you feel good all over. Irene Dunne and Cary Grant - what an awesome match. Ralph Bellamy makes it that much better. Don't forget Skippy who also appears as Asta in all the Thin Man Movies. Top comedy!!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

09/26/23

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keith w

Absolutely one of the top twenty finest movies of all time; exquisite casting, acting, scripting, production values, producing and direction. Ranks alongside The Lady Eve as the two best screwball comedies ever made. A joy to behold with Grant and Dunne excelling with great gusto and manifesting the full repertoire of their exceptional talents. A total, utter, pleasure, from beginning to end. Extremely recommended; *****plus!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie is exquisitely directed and acted. The "fourth wall" is gone; the movie rides so high and smart that we as audience can be subtly acknowledged throughout and made complicit in the production, while we continue to believe in the characters and care about what happens to them. Much of the important dialogue is "throw-away" dialogue, in a sense. It's clear to the hearing, but lines are often spoken by the characters to themselves, for their own (and our) amusement, or delivered in very deftly choreographed "simultaneity," each speaker maintaining an independent point of view in rapid-fire repartee. Implications are understated. We are expected to expect the unexpected, to listen to every line. The plot is composed like a piece of music. Each scene takes moment from the time-line established by the impending day and hour and minute at which a husband (Cary Grant) and wife (Irene Dunne) become legally divorced, and the movie ends at precisely the stroke of midnight which marks that moment. They clearly want each other back, but will they cleave together or cleave apart as the clock strikes midnight? One extended "movement" of the movie lets Cary Grant charmingly undermine his wife's new relationship. In corresponding scenes later, Irene Dunne brilliantly plays a dumb floozie, pretending to be the husband's sister and demolishing in one evening his reputation and his prospects for marriage in respectable society. In these later scenes, in another of the movie's nice compositional touches, she does a reprise of a hoochie musical number performed earlier by a girlfriend of her husband's, and then falls into her husband's arms, apparently drunk. He gestures for her to look back and say goodnight to the horrified guests (and to us) as they do a wonderful little wobbly dance out the door, having burned their bridges behind them. I found the opening few scenes of the movie unlikable, but with the entrance of Irene Dunne, the movie gets us on board. There's so much great understated visual and verbal double entendre (in the best sense) that I want to go back and see if there's more that I missed. In one scene, Cary Grant has brought to Irene Dunne's new fiancé the paperwork on a coal mine the divorcing couple still own. Interrupted by a visitor while advising the fiancé on where it would good to sink a shaft (har!), he explains that he and the fiancé (brilliantly played by Ralph Bellamy as a very successful bumpkin businessman) are transacting a business deal. The movie moves along briskly and doesn't play up the point, but we catch, for a fraction of a second, Irene Dunne squirming as she finds herself looking like the business transaction in question. The movie moves through moments like this quickly, with high respect for our intelligence and our capacity to get in on the joke.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

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Leo McCarey

Director

Irene Dunne

Lucy Warriner

Cary Grant

Jerry Warriner

Ralph Bellamy

Daniel "Dan" Leeson

Alex D'Arcy

Armand Duvalle

Cecil Cunningham

Aunt Patsy

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Michael Phillips

Chicago Tribune

This is Grant's first truly remarkable performance, morphing a romantic leading man into a suave, impish clown.

Apr 12, 2018

Full Review

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Leo McCarey's largely improvised 1937 film is one of the funniest of the screwball comedies, and also one of the most serious at heart.

May 27, 2008

Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Zappy, sophisticated screwball comedy with Grant and Dunne displaying perfect timing.

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Dave Giannini

InSession Film

Among the many things to love about The Awful Truth is that it never takes it easy on the protagonists. Many romances are simply aching to get their lovers together, for good reason, but because of this, they take shortcuts to make the audience happy.

Feb 20, 2024

Full Review

Zita Short

InSession Film

All of the pieces function on their own but they never add up to anything great. Grant and Dunne are mismatched as a romantic pair, to be quite frank...

Feb 1, 2023

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Merely one of the greatest comedies ever made.

Rated: 4/4

Aug 29, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

Jerry (Cary Grant) and Lucy (Irene Dunne) are a married couple who doubt each other's fidelity: Jerry suspects Lucy and her music teacher (Alexander D'Arcy) of spending an evening together, and Lucy is convinced Jerry lied about a business trip. When the jealous pair file for divorce, both rush into new relationships, but quickly realize their love never died. The soon-to-be-divorced husband and wife then both scramble to spoil each other's chances for newfound romance.

Director: Leo McCarey
Screenwriter: Viña Delmar, Arthur Richman, Sidney Buchman
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 21, 1937, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2012
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.37:1)

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