The Awful Truth

Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. Fine, fine comedians, both of them. A silly little plot that has little to no grounding in reality. Misunderstandings, a cute dog, and a beau from Nebraska. Hijinks ensue. Now, it's probably great fun for some folks to watch, but it seemed somewhat sterile to me. Yes, it's dated, but I guess I still expected scenes that I would understand and find mirthful. Of course, there are some that are very good. One scene in particular is giggle-icious, in which Irene Dunne's character tries to derail the potential marriage of her soon-to-be-ex (Grant) by acting like a card-carrying floozy. It's better if you recognize you're watching a 30s film in order to get why her behavior is so appalling, but her delivery is so perfect that it stands by itself. However, I thought the rest of the film was, in general, slight. I prefer others from that period, for example, It Happened One Night. Much funnier, much more realistic (really!), much easier to enjoy.

year: 1937
length: 91 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028597/combined