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The Awful Truth

The Awful Truth

Comedy · Romance · 1937

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

Movie details

The Awful Truth

“Danger! Wild woman on the loose!”

1937 Comedy · Romance 1h 31m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.2 / 10

Community rating

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

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Awful Truth?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Leo McCarey

Written by

Viña Delmar

Irene Dunne

Irene Dunne

Lucy Warriner

Cary Grant

Cary Grant

Jerry Warriner

Ralph Bellamy

Ralph Bellamy

Dan Leeson

Alexander D'Arcy

Alexander D'Arcy

Armand Duvalle

Cecil Cunningham

Cecil Cunningham

Aunt Patsy

Molly Lamont

Molly Lamont

Barbara Vance

Esther Dale

Esther Dale

Mrs. Leeson

Court is in session

Put The Awful Truth on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.