Film
The Awful Truth
Other titles called The Awful Truth: the 1929 film.
A married couple, each convinced the other has strayed, file for divorce and then spend the interim sabotaging each other's rebound romances out of pure, unacknowledged jealousy. Directed by Leo McCarey with a loose, improvisatory feel, it's the film that essentially invented the modern screwball rhythm — fast, silly, and secretly tender. Perfect for anyone who wants proof that Cary Grant learned to be Cary Grant on this set.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love screwball comedy where two sharp talkers trade barbs at full speed and the romance is funnier for being a battle of wits between people who still clearly adore each other.
Skip it if you want modern pacing or a story that moves beyond its premise; the plot runs on delays and misunderstandings, and the 1930s dialogue style may feel stagey to some viewers.
What it asks of you: Ninety-one minutes of quick back-and-forth with little downtime, so it rewards close attention to who is saying what and why, and it stays light throughout.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
His Girl Friday1940
Grant again, this time trading barbs with Rosalind Russell at a speed that makes most modern comedy look like it's underwater. Same ex-spouses-still-in-love engine, cranked to eleven.
But The dialogue is so rapid-fire you may need a second watch to catch half the jokes.
Bringing Up Baby1938
Grant and Hepburn, a leopard, and total chaos — the anarchic cousin to The Awful Truth's more controlled comedy of remarriage. Pure, escalating farce.
But It's broader and sillier; if you liked the wit here, the slapstick there might feel like a lot.
The Philadelphia Story1940
Grant plays the ex-husband circling a wedding he's not invited to, with Hepburn and Stewart in top form. Sharper-edged, more emotionally layered take on the same territory.
But It's talkier and more concerned with class and reputation than pure comic momentum.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Awful Truth
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Marriage Story2019
Both films are structured around a divorcing couple who sabotage each other's new relationships because they haven't actually let go — one plays it as delight, the other as grief.
The same engine — a couple undoing a marriage while still plainly loving each other — run entirely straight, and it will wreck you in ways The Awful Truth never intends to.
But There is no comic safety net here; the fights are raw and the pain is real, not farcical.
More like this (8)
My Man Godfrey1936
A butler with secrets upends a spoiled family's household — the same giddy disregard for propriety, with a wilder streak of social satire underneath the laughs.
But The screwball family here is more grotesque than charming, which some find harder to warm to.
It Happened One Night1934
The original template for bickering-into-love, with Gable and Colbert on a road trip that invents half the genre's tricks along the way.
But It's gentler and more earnest than The Awful Truth's cattier, more knowing tone.
Adam's Rib1949
Married lawyers on opposite sides of a courtroom case, trading jabs at home and in front of a judge. Same marital gamesmanship, dressed up as legal drama.
But The courtroom plot slows things down compared to the pure momentum of a farce.
Holiday1938
Grant and Hepburn again, this time about a man who'd rather quit his fortune than his freedom — quieter, warmer, still very funny.
But It trades manic energy for something gentler and more reflective; don't expect the same sparring pace.
Ball of Fire1941
A stuffy professor and a gangster's moll collide in a comedy about propriety cracking under attraction — Barbara Stanwyck is glorious.
But The slang-heavy setup dates it more visibly than some other titles on this list.
The Lady Eve1941
Stanwyck runs a long con on Henry Fonda, then falls for her own mark — devious, stylish, and just as fast-talking as anything McCarey made.
But The con-artist plotting is more elaborate and less about marital reconciliation specifically.
Scener ur ett äktenskap1973
Same subject — a couple circling divorce, still entangled, still jealous — but stretched into a slow, unsparing television format instead of a breezy ninety minutes.
Bergman's miniseries dissects a marriage's slow unraveling in intimate, almost unbearably close conversations — the forensic version of the same jealousy and reconciliation The Awful Truth turns into a game.
But It's Swedish, six hours long, and built on sustained two-person dialogue with almost no plot momentum.
Gaslight1944
Where The Awful Truth plays marital suspicion for laughs and a happy ending, Gaslight imagines the same doubt weaponized into something genuinely dangerous.
Takes the 'unfounded suspicion within a marriage' premise and drains every drop of comedy from it, becoming a genuinely frightening portrait of manipulation.
But It's a slow-building psychological thriller, tense rather than funny, and the marriage on screen is toxic, not just mismatched.
People
Cast
Irene DunneLucy Warriner
Cary GrantJerry Warriner
Ralph BellamyDan Leeson
Alexander D'ArcyArmand Duvalle
Cecil CunninghamAunt Patsy
Molly LamontBarbara Vance
Esther DaleMrs. Leeson
Joyce ComptonDixie Belle Lee
Robert AllenFrank Randall
Robert WarwickMr. Vance
Mary ForbesMrs. Vance- Claud AllisterLord Fabian (uncredited)
Directing
- Leo McCareyDirector
Writing
- Milton DrakeLyricist
- Viña DelmarScreenplay
- Arthur RichmanTheatre Play
Production
- Everett RiskinAssociate Producer
- Leo McCareyProducer
Recommended by
The Philadelphia Story, Bringing Up Baby, My Man Godfrey, The Lady Eve, Top Hat, Ninotchka, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, After the Thin Man, Holiday, Twentieth Century, The Palm Beach Story, Design for Living, Topper, Bachelor Mother, Abie's Irish Rose, Mr. and Mrs. North, Sylvia Scarlett, My Favorite Wife, The Talk of the Town, Seven Days' Leave, Ruggles of Red Gap, Easy Living, After Office Hours, Made for Each Other, Theodora Goes Wild, Day-time Wife, The Great Garrick, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, The Doctor Takes a Wife, I'm No Angel, Desire, Goin' to Town, Topper Takes a Trip, The Divorce of Lady X, Laugh and Get Rich, It's in the Bag!, Quality Street, I Love You Again, Come and Get It, Bachelor Apartment, The Sailor Takes a Wife, Merrily We Live, I Take This Woman, Niagara Falls, Accent on Youth, Three Smart Girls Grow Up