Cary Grant and Irene Dunne are a pair of world-weary socialites who, almost on a whim, decide to divorce. It is insinuated that Grant really has had an affair, but the end of his rope is when his wife wanders in, in front of all of their friends, after having spent the night in an inn with a man when their car broke down the previous night. It really DID break down. What's good for the goose is not good for the gander. His pride is wounded, but so is her honor wounded when he won't just believe her.
It's a screwball comedy, but it's also a love story, an interrogation of the institution of marriage, and a celebration of the human character in all its warped perfection. All of McCarey's main characters (Jerry, Lucy, Aunt Patsy, Leeson, Duvalle, and even Dixie Belle) are graced with sympathetic human qualities. The director isn't chasing an easy laugh at the expense of a cheap foil, but rather inviting us to recognize (and laugh at) our own peculiarities in the eccentricities of these characters.
But in spite of their pride, it is fate, and Ralph Bellamy and even Mr. Smith the dog that make them both realize that the awful truth is that they need one another. And how this film end is most unconventional for a production code era film.
It's a screwball comedy, but it's also a love story, an interrogation of the institution of marriage, and a celebration of the human character in all its warped perfection. All of McCarey's main characters (Jerry, Lucy, Aunt Patsy, Leeson, Duvalle, and even Dixie Belle) are graced with sympathetic human qualities. The director isn't chasing an easy laugh at the expense of a cheap foil, but rather inviting us to recognize (and laugh at) our own peculiarities in the eccentricities of these characters.
But in spite of their pride, it is fate, and Ralph Bellamy and even Mr. Smith the dog that make them both realize that the awful truth is that they need one another. And how this film end is most unconventional for a production code era film.