Released: 28th August
Seen: 6th December
In 1981, William Adler released his eighth novel, The War Of The Roses, about a couple who slowly feel their marriage falling apart and go through an absurdly horrific divorce. This story got adapted into a film of the same name in 1989 which was a massive hit, making $160 million on a $26 million budget. As a pitch black comedy, the chances of it being remade probably seemed unlikely (remaking comedies is rare enough, remaking pitch black comedies about couples who divorce and almost torture each other to death is something that was almost never going to happen) but here we are in 2025 with The Roses coming out and honestly being funnier than you might expect it to be.
The Roses shows a couple who start out seemingly ideal, Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an architect working on a boat museum and Ivy (Olivia Colman) is a chef trying to make her first restaurant work. A freak storm comes by and destroys the museum while simultaneously getting people to Ivy’s restaurant, forcing the relationship to have a sudden shift. Turns out this relationship isn’t the kind that could handle such a shift because it leads to resentment and brutal barbs being thrown between the married couple until they finally decide to get a divorce, which only ramps up the brutality between them to the point where they might just start doing war crimes on each other if it means that they’ll get what they want out of all this.
When it comes to sharp, dark, biting comedy, The Roses really does try and go for the jugular every time. Every single wicked cruel line thrown between the two leads is so brutal and hilarious you don’t know if you should cackle or be horrified that they would say such mean things to each other and the effective way those jokes build until the fiery climax is honestly kind of impressive, they manage to keep ramping everything up incredibly well and the two leads manage to throw every single witty, wicked line with the kind of seasoned expertise you can really only get from well-trained British legends. It feels like this dialogue was almost made specifically to be done by the Brits, it has that same dry witty tone that a lot of good British comedy has and that element really makes it work, including how no one in their friend group really catches on to how much they hate each other.
Those wickedly brutal insults mostly work because Benedict and Olivia are on top of their game here; they have impeccable chemistry and incredible comedic timing. They are absolutely steering this ship and doing it with incredible control, able to believably go between the dark witty banter and some truly emotional, hard-hitting moments that help you understand the characters. They manage to keep these characters from turning into cruel cartoon characters, which they could so easily have become in lesser hands. You actually buy that there is a deep undercurrent of love here that’s just been calloused over by the growing resentment and it makes for some genuinely fascinating moments. It’s a take on divorce that is not often seen in films, one where the couple in question do love each other on some level but also know they’ve become so toxic that they can’t express that properly. It’s wonderfully done thanks to the two leads.
It also helps that The Roses itself looks lovely, the set design in particular for the main house at the centre of the final half of the film is truly incredible. It’s lavish without being so over the top that it’s unbelievable, these are insane rich people having stupid rich people problems which makes it a lot more enjoyable watching them completely losing it on each other. It also helps that the layout of the insane house is so well established that when it comes time for the climax it’s genuinely easy to follow where everything is and how wild things are getting.
Now obviously The Roses is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s brutal dark mean comedy is an acquired taste that won’t work on a considerable number of people, I think everyone involved in making this film understood that but they committed to making it as unflinching as possible and if you’re into this kind of humour then it’ll work for you… it did for me, this is a resoundingly funny film with teeth sharp enough to break through skin and bone, just don’t be shocked if it turns out it’s a little too mean for your personal enjoyment.
Movie Meister Reviews 