Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Mark Turner It's a sad day to realize that young people today have become so enamored of themselves that they fail to believe anything good took place before they were born. In so doing they short change themselves from discovering some of the greatest things entertainment has to offer them. Books that were written, music that was recorded and movies that were filmed before they entered this world. Fortunately before many of those items are lost to the world, film in particular, there are companies that are striving to make these items available. On such company has been Criterion.Criterion has strived to save some of the most influential films from obscurity and released them on disc in the most comprehensive and splendid formats possible. They set the benchmark for many companies that have followed like Arrow and Twilight Time, both of which you will find my praises for here in past reviews. One new item from Criterion features a director that many will not recognize even though he could possibly be considered the godfather of screwball comedies. The movie is THE AWFUL TRUTH and it was directed by Leo Carey.The film stars Cary Grant as Jerry Warriner and Irene Dunne as his wife Lucy. As the film opens Jerry is returning home early from a trip claiming he was in Florida but discovers Lucy isn't home. She finally shows with her music instructor in tow, claiming that they would have been home the night before but his car broke down. Offended and accusing her of lying, the two argue and he suggest they divorce. Both angry and a bit stubborn they file and have no problem dividing assets with the exception of Mr. Smith, their dog.Lucy moves in with her Aunt Patsy (Cecil Cunningham) and mopes. To get her out of the dumps her aunt sets her up with a new neighbor, a well to do man from Oklahoma named Dan Leeson (Ralph Bellamy). While this is transpiring Jerry pops in now and then on his days to visit their dog. The pair is still waiting for their divorce to be finalized and each shows glimmers behind the other's back that perhaps this wasn't the right move. But both remain stubborn and unbending.It isn't long before Lucy and Dan are engaged much to the consternation of Dan's overbearing mother. Meeting Jerry doesn't help her disposition much and neither does the things she hears about the duo's divorce. But Jerry comes to Lucy's defense and smooths things over. He just wants her to be happy.The crux of the film lies between these two married people and their love for one another. But rather than admit that love they instead push each other away in the most roundabout ways possible. The comedy here lies in that misunderstanding that each refuses to admit. It seems as if they're willing to let things disappear from their fingertips in an effort to not be the first to admit they were wrong.As with most movies from this time the film is fueled with a combination of visual gags combined with fast paced, snappy dialogue. Pay attention or you'll miss one joke or another. The humor is as dry as it is broad and one style or another while working perfectly in synch is bound to make you laugh. The jokes her range from those inspiring a chuckle to others that will result in full on belly laughs.While many may remember Cary Grant as the suave leading man he became prior to this film that persona wasn't set in stone yet. While playing some substantial roles beside some major stars of the time it wasn't until this film and TOPPER, released the same year, would cement him in place to be a star in his own right. The caricature of the dapper man about town, sophisticated and self-assured, stemmed from his performances in both films but certainly more so in this one. Jerry is comfortable in a New York nightclub where he's well-known and at the same time baffled when he thinks he knows something he honestly doesn't. Grant followed this film with BRINGING UP BABY which solidified his leading man status. He later teamed up with McCarey for several films most notably AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER. But this film, under McCarey's influence, he became a star.Leading lady Irene Dunne also worked more than this with McCarey and became one of the top comedic actresses of her time. She and Grant worked together in several films which the public flocked to. While a star at the time her career lagged in later years no doubt due to the fact that women aging in Hollywood were treated less kindly than men. But the film legacy she left behind proved she was up to the challenge of standing tall next to the men she was paired with.McCarey had come up through the ranks of the silent film days before talkies came along. It was the later films that made him famous and earned him the distinction of being the king of screwball comedies. He worked with Laurel and Hardy, Eddie Cantor in THE KID FROM SPAIN, the Marx Brothers in DUCK SOUP, Charles Laughton in RUGGLES OF RED GAP, Bing Crosby in GOING MY WAY and THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S and Gary Cooper in GOOD SAM. The films he created are considered to be among the best that Hollywood had to offer. He won the Oscar twice as director, the first time being this film.Sadly many won't recognize his name. That's a shame because while so many undeserving director are recognized here is someone who earned the same name recognition now forgotten. As long as companies like Criterion release his pictures on disc though there is a chance that might change.Criterion has done their best to offer the film in the most glorious looking version of the film ever to find its way to disc. The movie has been restored into a new 4k digital presentation and while a black and white film it never looked as good. Other extras here include a new interview with critic Gary Giddins about McCarey, a video essay by film critic David Cairns on Cary Grant's performances, an illustrated 1978 audio interview with actress Irene Dunne, a LUX RADIO THEATER adaptation of the film from 1939 featuring performances by Grant and Claudette Colbert and an essay by film critic Molly Haskell.If you love classic movies you could sit and wait for them to be entered into rotation on Turner Classic Movies. Or you could make a point of picking up this version of THE AWFUL TRUTH. It's one of those classic film comedies that gets better with age and can be watched more than once. And if you've never been exposed to the wonders of McCarey, Grant and Dunne then perhaps this is your chance to find out just how fantastic they were together.

weezeralfalfa In general, Cary Grant comedies are not my favorites, and this offering is thus far my least favorite. Even the later "My Favorite Wife", despite it's plot problems, was a pleasure to watch compared to this turkey.During parts of the film, costar Irene Dunn reminded me in hair style, speech and mannerisms of Katharine Hepburn, say in "Bringing Up Baby", released the following year. The humor in that Grant film was miles more effective. Not sure if the title is supposed to relate to the plot? Is the point that there was no awful truth to be discovered, thus wrongly leading to the divorce. Never understood why it was so important for Cary's character to lie about going to Florida? The hint is that he went to California. Why? This only relates to the rest of the film in providing some reason for Dunn's character to wonder about his fidelity, eventually leading to divorce.

classicsoncall This movie reminded me of another Cary Grant-Irene Dunne team-up that came out a few years later, "My Favorite Wife". The situation between the principals was of a similar nature, and the supporting players in that movie sort of paralleled the ones here. For my money, I'd have to give the edge to this one, I thought it was a funnier film, with Irene Dunne's inspired performance as being the deciding factor.Director Leo McCarey is to be commended for encouraging his players to ad lib as much as possible during the shooting of the picture, much to the consternation of Grant, who was used to a more structured approach to film making. He was one of those actors who memorized his lines and got flustered with any deviation from the script. But things worked out once Grant got in the spirit of things and offered his own bit of improvisation. That chair flip at the DuValle's (Alexander D'Arcy) was a classic bit of tom foolery, and landed him in a most unusual position.For sheer lunacy, Lucy Warriner's (Dunne) impersonation of her husband's phony sister was the best, along with that 'Gone With the Wind' number which was a hoot and a half. How Lucy could have been attracted to a cornball guy like Dan Leeson (Ralph Bellamy) given her personality was a bit of a stretch, but no more so than Jerry (Grant) going for good old Dixie Belle (Joyce Compton). Those two rebounds would have been better taken on a basketball court.If you're in the mood for screwball comedy you can't go wrong with this one. It seems Grant and Dunne were naturals for this sort of pairing since they teamed up a handful of times in other films. Which makes me wonder why Grant, who was married five times, never hooked up with Irene Dunne for real considering their wonderful on screen chemistry.

Ross622 Leo McCarey's The Awful Truth is a smart romantic comedy movie that is unlike any other comedy that I have ever seen before as well as being one of the best comedies ever made. McCarey's film tells the story of a couple (played by Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in an Oscar nominated performance) who is about to divorce each other with some complicated events (especially the scene where the Cary Grant and Irene Dunne characters are in the courtroom trying to find out who is going to take custody of their dog of which they call "Mr. Smith"). While watching the courtroom scene in this movie I thought of this movie as a satire to Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) because both films talk about divorce but both are different genres whereas Kramer vs. Kramer has the more emotional aspect of divorce and this film is just the opposite because both Jerry (Grant) and Lucy (Dunne) can't handle it without another, also while Lucy is still married she ends having a love affair with a man named Daniel Leeson (played by Ralph Bellamy in a performance that got him an Oscar nomination), but coincidentally Jerry also attempts to have a love affair with a woman named Barbara Vance (played by Molly Lamont), and here is the part of why both affairs end up being a total coincidence and that reasoning is because both affairs don't last too long. As Roger Ebert once said on his show with Gene Siskel "and so often in relationships who do you like? you like the people who like you." and that is just the case with this movie, and also it gives a very valuable life lesson for married couples and that is to never divorce from each other for the wrong reasons.