Grade: D+
Synopsis: A couple (Irene Dunne and Cary Grant) tries to spoil each other’s new romances before their divorce becomes final.
The Awful Truth is an agreeable enough comedy featuring some good lines and nice performances, until the final third when it goes off the rails.
The film starts out well enough, with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne cruising easily through the light comedy. There are several great lines, particularly from the supporting cast, that will have you chuckling, and the script seems refreshingly literate.
Unfortunately, the problem comes at almost exactly the two-thirds mark, when the script plunges precipitously into “screwball” comedy and features Dunne impersonating Grant’s character’s non-existent sister in order to sabotage his burgeoning romance. Not only is it unbelievable, but, more importantly, it’s not funny and only succeeds in draining any sympathy the audience might have had for Dunne’s character. And it’s all downhill from here as Dunne’s character nearly gets Grant’s character arrested, trashes their car, and strands him at her country home. Then, despite all this, we’re expected to believe that he realizes how much he still loves her. The ridiculous, self-absorbed nature of Dunne’s character’s actions is reminiscent of Katharine Hepburn’s character in Bringing Up Baby (1938), with similar results.
Bottom Line: The Awful Truth is awfully uneven and viewers would be better off with the similar, but superior, My Favorite Wife (1940) instead.
