The Awful Truth

1937 Directed by Leo McCarey

Danger! Wild woman on the loose!

Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings, whereupon they start undermining each other's attempts to find new romance.

Irene Dunne Cary Grant Ralph Bellamy Alexander D'Arcy Cecil Cunningham Molly Lamont Esther Dale Joyce Compton Robert 'Tex' Allen Robert Warwick Mary Forbes Claud Allister Al Bridge Edgar Dearing Wyn Cahoon Sarah Edwards Bess Flowers Mitchell Harris Dell Henderson Scott Kolk Bert Moorhouse Miki Morita Edmund Mortimer Zita Moulton George C. Pearce Edward Peil Sr. Paul Stanton John Tyrrell Frank C. Wilson Show All…

Alternative Titles

Deze vervloekte waarheid, Vaimoni sulhanen, Diazygio me prothesmia, Ужасната истина, Den frygtelige sandhed, Nahá pravda

romance comedy drama

91 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by brat pitt ★★★★ 5

irene dunne: *sings*
cary grant: *falls down*
me: 4 stars
Review by laird ★★★★★ 1

Leo McCarey: Master of hat comedy.
Cary Grant: Master of full body comedy.
Irene Dunne: Master.
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★ 7

76
Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. That's it, that's the review.
Review by eely ★★★½

the moral of the story is if you’re dumb enough to divorce cary grant your dog will betray you and you will be stuck with a boring oklahoman man who lives with his mother.
Review by Steve G 🐝 ★★★★ 2

I wonder if Marilyn Monroe ever watched this film?
What I seem to be doing at the moment with my filmwatching is starting to plug some holes in my cinematic knowledge. It has been inadvertent but I had noticed that particular pattern had emerged in the last few weeks or so.
What with me having broken my Paul Thomas Anderson duck last night, making vague noises about watching more musicals, and even dipped my toe into Japanese noir, I now find myself tackling the screwball comedy. I know, sometimes I surprise even myself.
Truth be told, The Awful Truth just happened to be a title that caught my eye - like I say, completely inadvertent. I have ventured into these…
Review by eely ★★★½

cary grant would have been 116 years old today. 116 years of improperly sitting on couches, elegantly falling out of chairs, and lying in bed in a pose which i like to call the “sleepy but intrigued swan.” how sad that we only got 82 years of that magic.
Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★ 1

Leo McCarey’s directorial style which is generally unbounded by rules or conventions manages to function marvellously in this screwball comedy concerning suspicious married couple Jerry and Lucy Warriner, played by Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, agreeing on filing for an amicable divorce and then subsequently impeding in one another's ensuing romances.
Dunne and Grant both give outstanding performances in a reasonably typical story arc that is entirely transformed by the encouragement of McCarey for extensive improvisation from the cast while on set, which initially, according to production reports, established a loss of enthusiasm and confidence from many of the cast members; however, it's predominantly this rapport between the actors which brings about this being so sharply humorous.
Viña Delmar’s vivacious…
Review by Monday Seagull

Have you always wanted to fall madly and equally in love with a man, a woman, and a dog?
Don’t worry, you will.
Review by RetroHound ★★★★ 3

A husband and wife suspect each other of cheating so agree to a divorce. Though neither really wants it. Then, they both try to move on and make the other jealous at the same time. Poor Ralph Bellamy, he's always the rebound guy in these films.
I always cringe when I read the synopsis of these screwball comedies, because it sounds contrived and silly. However, the situations they get themselves into, the dialog, and the interesting side-characters make up for it every time. Especially the dialog.
Leo McCarey doesn't get much recognition as a director, but he did a number of the top comedies as well as more heartfelt films such as Make Way for Tomorrow and An Affair to…
Review by nora ★★★½ 3

divorce me cary grant 😩😩😩😩
Review by Disgustipated ★★★★ 4

Film School Drop Outs Challenge 2017 - Week 6 - Genre - Romance - Screw Ball Comedy
“Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There is too much fraternizing with the enemy.”
― Henry Kissinger
The only Screwball Comedy I had seen before now was His Girl Friday. It was a real doozy of a film, a thrilling depiction of a highly entertaining battle between a divorced couple, played by Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, as they go at it hammer and tongs. It felt like I had court-side seats to a tennis open grand final as the couple traded verbal zingers back and forth with panache and force until one of them lobbed up an opportunity for…
Review by russman ★★★★

Mr. Smith goes to divorce court

Recent reviews

Review by DrLois ★★★★½

What fun! And Cary Grant is devine.
Review by newolford

Okay so it turns out I have seen this movie before and just hardly remembered it
Review by benjamin ★★★★

cary grant falls over like a WHORE
Review by Nichtsbesondern ★★★½

My first immediate response to this is chuckling over how they act over the dog. In the zeitgeist right recently was a dog walker stabbed. But more headlines were made about the poor dog than the dog walker. Anyway, my main thought is how this could be redone with some LGBT storylines in today's time and the humor would still hold up. I feel a bit of this was already done with that bland film Who gets the Dog which didn't have the quality writing a story like this needs because you already know how it is going to end which is too bad since Alicia Silverstone doesn't really compare to Irene Dunne here nor does pretty boy Ryan Kwanten compete against Cary Grant. Holding out that the next attempt hits the sweet spot of good writing and humor like this one did.
Review by jenninator ★★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

comedy, romantic comedy, romance, happily ever after, marriage
Review by FGNRSY ★★★★★

As a time traveller, I must say, american comedies are getting better and better.
Review by lepetit_vale ★★★★

The Awful Truth is a pretty hilarious story of two lovers who come to despise each other only to love each other again. Cary Grant is truly a one of a kind actor that had one of the best charismatic in a actor every. The Awful Truth is truly one of a kind. This is one of many Cary Grant's best work. Also, you gotta love the Mr. Smith, the cutest pupper ever.
Review by mary louise ★★★★½

🥰🥰🥰
Review by fanny ★★★★

• slowburn 😩
• lovers to enemies to lovers
• and the cookoo man and woman idea !!! yes
• irene dunne, i am free on friday
Review by Jake Schroeder ★★★★

There have been very few actors as talented as Cary Grant. He had a charisma like no other. He and other actors in Classic Hollywood elevated both the actors/actresses around them and the films they were in.
Arsenic and Old Lace, Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday: all great examples of his comedic genius.
The Awful Truth is no exception . If you haven’t watched some of his best work you’re missing out.
Review by agentbobert ★★★½

Menaces to society
Review by Javiera ★★★★½ 2

If I'd known from the beginning that most of this film is improvised I would have loved it a lot more. All those punchlines are fascinating, very ingenious, the actors and actresses did amazing performances. The plot is a classic screwball comedy, but with a very special humour due to the improvisation. It's really entertaining. There were expected moments, but some other totally random which make the film a lot more catching, great details.