Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Palaest recommended

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

vincentlynch-moonoi If there's a single thing that might have saved this film, it probably would have been music. But this is one of those early films where music was seen as only needed during the opening and closing credits. So, in between, there's an awfully lot of "dead air". "Dead air" while the main characters silently emote, and "dead air" between scenes. It makes the movie seem very, very long, although it's actually only 81 minutes long.The premise of the film is actually interesting. A man (Pat O'Brien) and a woman (Irene Dunne) each break up with the loves of their lives (for the man, it's Myrna Loy). They then have a chance meeting in a bar/restaurant. They don't exactly fall in love...it's more a relationship of convenience...better to be together than alone. They marry, with the understanding that if their true loves return, they're each free to make their own decision. A child is born. And then, at the same time, the old lovers do return. Dunne leaves her baby and heads off with her lover (Lester Vail). But within hours, realizes she loves not only her baby, but also Pat O'Brien. She returns home to find that O'Brien is going to meet Loy, but instead she suggests bringing her to the house. Which O'Brien does, and that leads to a very awkward scene where Dunne attempts to keep a stiff upper lip and be very modern about what is happening...but ultimately breaks down in tears.Strikes against each character. Vail and Loy for horning in on a marriage...doubly so for Loy because she is such a cold woman here. Strikes against Dunne for being willing to give up her baby and husband...at least for a while. Strikes against O'Brien for bringing the other woman to his home to meet his wife.The actors play their roles relatively well, it's just that it's difficult to really like any of the characters very much. Each of the characters is remarkably callous at various times, and there's no clear good or bad guys (and gals) here. I did enjoy supporting actor John Halliday The movie is worth wading through if you like really old movies, though you won't want to wade through it more than once, and I doubt you'll want this clunker on your DVD shelf.

wes-connors Shopkeeper Irene Dunne (as Mary Brown) is in love with pianist Lester Vail (as Aubrey). Sports writer Pat O'Brien (as Steve Porter) expects to marry his high school "Juliet" Myrna Loy (as Elaine). Alas, Ms. Dunne and Mr. O'Brien lose their lovers to more well-heeled partners. Then, Dunne and O'Brien meet, get drunk, and bond in friendship as a cut-rate "Bonnie and Clyde" during a wild evening. Thinking any reconciliation with their true loves is impossible, Dunne and O'Brien decide to get married. Their "Consolation Marriage" is agreed to be an "open" one, but a child keeps O'Brien home and sober more often. Then, the marriages of Mr. Vail and Ms. Loy end - and, they want Dunne and O'Brien back... Predictable and unattractive, with some emphasis on the latter.**** Consolation Marriage (10/13/31) Paul Sloane ~ Irene Dunne, Pat O'Brien, John Halliday, Myrna Loy

David (Handlinghandel) Since I first saw "The Awful Truth," Irene Dunne has been one of the few performers whose presence in a movie will make me watch it. No matter what.This one is a real case of no matter what.(For the record, the others include Jean Harlow, Jean Arthur, and Constance Bennett.)This is a women's picture, directed at a snail's pace.In it, Ms. Dunne sports an exceptionally unflattering hair design, which makes her virtually unrecognizable as the star of such classics as the above-mentioned "Awful Truth," Theodora Goes Wild," and "Showboat."She looks like Edna May Oliver. She looks like Eleanor Roosevelt (my greatest heroine of the past two or three hundred years but hardly a beauty.)In this poky tale, Dunne actually leaves her child briefly. The child is indeed pudgy and very unappealing but women must have stalked out of theaters at that point.She and Pat O'Brien are not the most likely of couples but they are meant in the plot not to be. They are certainly more believable than Dunne and Spencer Tracy in unendurable "A Guy Named Joe."

Arthur Hausner Irene Dunne and Pat O'Brien marry each other on the rebound after each of their true loves marry someone else. It is agreed to be an "open" marriage, where each can leave at any time with no questions asked. The film tries to answer the question: what happens if either of their former loves came back and want them? That is exactly what happens in duplicate - both loves, Myrna Loy and Lester Vail, return almost at the same time and want their former sweethearts back. I enjoyed watching the stars perform even though the story was routine and the final outcome was never really in doubt. The supporting cast, especially John Halliday, was all very good. Myrna Loy was still stuck in her "bad girl" roles.Watch for the scene where Dunne and O'Brien drive by New York's RKO Mayfair. Its marquee is emblazoned with lights heralding two RKO features shown earlier in 1931, A Woman of Experience and Millie. You can even pick out ZaSu Pitts on the marquee, but a large screen TV and a VCR in the slow motion mode will help.