This is one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time. The chemistry of Cary Grant and Irene Dunn is fantastic. I had such a great time watching this movie.

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)

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.

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

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!!

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!

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.

I'm a sucker for Cary Grant, but the whole movie was quite funny and well done.

While this is not as 'screwball comedy' as other Cary Grant movies (think Bringing up Baby), but Irene Dunne is a great partner in this movie. And it's fun to see a young Ralph Bellamy as the third wheel in this wonderful couple. Also the dog steals the scenes he is in. Well worth the time, particularly if you are like me, a Cary Grant fan.

What an odd little movie! The story is that a couple is divorcing although they still have feelings for each other and spend the movie trying to make each other jealous before the divorce comes through. There's plenty of silly writing but Grant, Dunne and Bellamy have so much fun with the comedy that it's hard to resist going along for the ride. The "Gone With the Wind" song scene with the three actors saying everything with only facial expressions is priceless!

Like any comedy, especially one that was made in the 1930s, the laughs are hit and miss. Another thing that's true of comedies of this vintage is that it feels less cohesive as a whole, and more like a series of scenes, like songs on an album. But some of the scenes are really outstanding, top of their class in the screwball genre, and that's what I'm judging this by. Plus, the work of Mr. Smith is on another level. That is peak dog acting, regardless of the year. It's no wonder he gets so much screen time.

A sweet-natured comedy that takes advantage of the charisma of both of its stars to the fullest; the transformation of their squabbling from comedically vindictive to sweetly self-sabotaging in order to preserve a relationship that neither of them will admit to still hopng for is endearingly lighthearted fare, and full of plenty of humorous little moments. An interesting pairing of lead actors, with Dunne's star beginning to fade (after never receiving her due from posterity, largely due to her talent for comedy rather than more typically demure female roles) while Grant found himself catapulted to superstardom off his balance of good looks, sophistication, and a willingness to laugh at himself (along with an underappreciated talent for physucal humor and comedic timing). One of the great early romantic comedies. (4/5)

One of the best comedy movie of the history of cinema

A lot of fun because of the cast.

Something about Cary Grant rubs me the wrong way so almost any film he is in is hurt by his presence in my evaluation as he is often cast as a charming, funny romantic lead and I just cannot find it in myself to like him. He starred in this light romantic comedy from 1937 that received enough acclaim to be nominated for Best Picture and earn director Billy Wilder his first of two Academy Awards for Best Director. Having recently seen and enjoyed The Thin Man (1934) I thought I was going to be able to sit back and enjoy the humor of an arguing married couple coming to realize they love each other but sadly I was left rather bored and did not laugh once. Lucy Warriner, Irene Dunne, has been taking lessons with music teacher Armand Duvalle, Alexander D'Arcy, without telling her husband Jerry, Cary Grant, who comes to believe that she is having an affair with her teacher when he finds them together late at night. He refuses to believe his wife when she tells him that the car her teacher was using broke down and she believes that he has had an affair when he appears tan despite claiming that he traveled to Florida where it had been raining recently. The two divorce because they do not trust one another and have shared custody of their dog Mr. Smith, Skippy, but continue to spend time together as they are still attracted to one another. Warriner becomes engaged to Oklahoman oil man Dan Leeson, Ralph Bellamy, whose mother, Esther Dale, controls him but their burgeoning relationship is complicated by Jerry's intrusions into their lives. Warriner is also jealous of her husband's new girlfriends and sabotages his relationships with showgirl Dixie Belle Lee, Joyce Compton, and snobbish heiress Barbara Vance, Molly Compton. There is great comedic potential in concepts of this sort as several comedies of remarriage existed around this time, unfortunately Grant starred in many of them, that did more with the idea of two people who do not value one another enough. There is an added richness to the idea of two people rediscovering why they loved another as they are given room to reflect on their past mistakes and recognize what makes the other person special. Most romantic films could be criticized for only depicting the early period a relationship in which the connection between two people is largely based on physical attraction and they have not had time to develop grievances against one another or develop patterns. Marriages can be the most fulfilling aspect of a person's life as they are difficult to maintain but often rewarding and while this can be difficult to portray on screen, as shown by this film, it would be nice to see something that most people commit themselves to appear more often in films. What the film wastes it's fantastic concept on is a series of comedic gags based around tired stereotypes as we get a dumb, Southern mother's boy, a floozy and a haughty wealthy woman who is ultimately humiliated. Nothing that appears in this film is original and it does not use any of it's tired jokes well as the ‘sexually suggestive' dance carried out by Compton was not nearly as hilarious as the work of Ginger Rogers in 42nd Street (1933). The inclusion of a dog that the couple fights over also reminded me of The Thin Man as while Nick and Nora Charles get along famously and do not argue their dog draws them together as it brings Warriner and Jerry together and the fact that this film pales in comparison to that film made me depressed. I don't mind comedies that are not necessarily original but use classic tropes and package them well as shown by my love for When Harry Met Sally… (1989) but this film's failure to put tried and true gags to good use made it a frustrating viewing experience. The performances were also lacking as both of the Dunne performances I have seen so far have underwhelmed me and Grant was typically grating. Dunne seemed to be doing a Claudette Colbert impression but she came across as brittle and silly in early scenes and never really comes into her own as she comes across as an adult woman pretending to be a child. We also get the obligatory scene of her singing and I started to feel as though she was her generation's Diane Keaton and I mean that as a negative statement. She should not have been in the 1937 Best Actress lineup and it is disappointing that with competition like Beulah Bondi in Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) she made her way into contention.

This has its funny moments and is a solid comedy. Irene Dunne was miscast here as there is little real chemistry with Grant. He had to "put on" the chemistry for it to be believable, and he chose not to put it on for Dunne. She was too weak for the part, which should have gone to Rosalind Russell or Myrna Loy, two actresses who worked well with Grant.

I just love classic comedies. The comedic timing, the subtle humor, and the use of slapstick at just the right moment always seems to work for me. The Awful Truth is a comedy that hits all those notes perfectly, and had me laughing for hours. The story is about a couple that is waiting for their divorce to go through, while also dealing with their jealousy over new relationships in their exes’ lives. The back-and-forth sabotage and teasing is great, and I like that it all comes across as funny and not mean-spirited. We can feel the emotion behind what they are doing, even though it appears nasty on the surface. I appreciate that this takes chances and is a different kind of romantic-comedy. Instead of being the classic story of how boy meets girl, it’s a story of how boy loses girl, and their struggle to decide if they made the right choice. The Awful Truth was even more effective for me because of the amazing cast. Cary Grant is one of my all-time favorite actors in comedies. He has superb timing and can also do a lot with his funny expressions. Irene Dunne matched him the entire way through. She also had me laughing, and the comedic dance sequence was a big highlight. There were some situations that were a bit of a logical stretch, but I like those kind of contrived things in comedies. This feels like a play at times, and I mean that in a good way. The whole thing could take place in a couple of rooms, and yet it feels like so much happens in those places. The ending was exactly what this movie needed, and it was heartwarming despite the silliness. The Awful Truth is the kind of comedy I wish was made today. It makes me laugh a lot, and is one I’ll be seeking out again.

The best, GREATEST romcom movie ever made!

Great comedy staring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. Skippy the dog, known for playing Asta in the Thin Man movies, plays Mr. Smith, who is the reason Grant and Dunne are still seeing each other.

Fantastic and hilarious screwball comedy. Still laugh-out-loud funny after all these years.