Aren't We All? is a weirdly charming relic of manners

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, it depends on how much you like watching people in fancy clothes talk in circles. If you have a soft spot for old-school British stage adaptations, you'll probably get a kick out of this. If you need a movie that actually goes somewhere before the final five minutes, you will likely be checking your watch every ten minutes.

The plot is basically one long argument that could have been solved with a ten-minute conversation. Instead, these people decide to burn their entire social circle down just to prove a point. It’s dramatic in that way that only people with zero real-world problems can be.

The vibe

There is this one scene near the middle where the pacing just hits a wall. It feels like the characters are waiting for a cue that never comes. They just kind of stand there, adjusting their ties and looking wounded. It’s almost uncomfortable to watch.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Aren't We All? (1932) through its definitive frames.

The dialogue is snappy, sure, but sometimes it feels like they’re trying way too hard to be clever. It’s like watching a tennis match where everyone is only aiming for the net. You can tell they’re supposed to be witty, but it comes off a bit dusty by modern standards.

It’s a far cry from the intensity you’d find in something like Mordprozeß Mary Dugan, where the stakes actually feel like they exist outside of a drawing room. Here, the biggest danger is someone getting their feelings hurt at dinner. Which, I guess, is its own kind of tragedy for these people.

Small details I noticed:

• The way the costumes seem to change based on who is winning the argument.
• There is a background extra in the garden scene who clearly has nowhere to be.
• The lighting in the final act gets weirdly aggressive for a story about a couple making up.

I found myself wondering if they even liked each other to begin with. The chemistry is... well, it’s certainly polite. It’s not exactly the kind of passion that makes you believe they’d actually care if the other person walked out the door forever. But maybe that’s the point? Maybe it’s just about saving face.

Anyway, it’s a light watch. Don't go in expecting to have your life changed. It’s just a nice little window into a world that doesn't really exist anymore. ☕️