Leo McCarey's "The Awful Truth" is among the best of the "screwball" comedies of the 1930s. It is also one of the simplest in plots and screenplays, because it does not require any attempts at conspiracy or hidden identities or mystery (say as in the comic mystery "The Thin Man", or in "His Gal Friday" - which also co-starred Cary Grant and Ralph Bellamy in somewhat similar character types). The plot of "The Awful Truth" is reminiscent of what Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien always are arguing about as screenplay writers in "Boy Meets Girl". There the plot is "Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again!" Here it would be, "Husband and wife split, husband and wife sabotage each other's love affairs, husband and wife reconcile!"<br /><br />Grant and Irene Dunne have been married for awhile (we later learn in court that they met when both fell in love with a puppy in a pet shop), but both jump to the conclusion that the other has been having extra-marital affairs (Grant, in particular, is funny growing disgusted and angrier at Dunne's fairly blameless voice teacher Alex D'Arcy). They agree to separate and eventually divorce (their only bone of contention is the puppy - "Asta" from "The Thin Man" series - who Dunne wins by a slightly sneaky trick. Dunne is introduced by her aunt (Cecily Courtneigh) to a neighbor in her luxury apartment house - Bellamy. He's a very wealthy oil man from Oklahoma. Grant tries to pick up a romance with a nightclub dancer (Joyce Compton), but he finds he delights in humiliating Dunne with her ham-handed new beau. The scene in the nightclub is funny because of how Compton's act embarrasses Grant, but he watches Bellamy jitterbug Dunne off the dance floor.<br /><br />Grant manages, without fully planning it, in wrecking Dunne's romance. Then he starts showing a serious interest in snobby socialite Molly Lamont. Dunne, following this romance in the social columns, shows up at the home of Lamont's parents as Grant's drunken younger sister - and proceeds to demolish his engagement before his shocked fiancé and her parents.<br /><br />The reconciliation is at the end, although it seems hinted that Dunne comes out a little ahead of Grant in looking less absurd at the conclusion.<br /><br />The dialog is worth listening to here. A disgusted Bellamy announcing that a boy's best friend is his mother (here Esther Dale). D'Arcy weakly agreeing to help Dunne make Grant look foolish - but inquiring if Grant carries a gun (oddly enough Ingrid Bergman's servant "Carl" is used in a similar way in "Indiscreet", and worries about getting shot by Grant too!). Grant reassuring a dismal looking Dunne that if she gets tired of the nightlife of Oklahoma City, she can always go with Bellamy to swinging Tulsa.<br /><br />If not as somewhat meaningful as "My Man Godfrey" or as dramatically balanced as "The Thin Man", "The Awful Truth" ends up being sweetly mirthful to the conclusion. It is a comedy that never fails to entertain.