“The Roses” is a witty, sharply written remake of the 1989 black comedy “The War of the Roses.” Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman star as the bitterly battling couple and the script delightfully benefits from their British banter.

The original source of the 1989 film was Warren Adler’s 1981 novel about Jonathan and Barbara Rose and the deterioration of their perfect marriage into a vicious destructive divorce action.

The War of the Roses ⭐️⭐️⭐️

In the novel the main characters are highly successful lawyer based in Washington, D.C. and his wife, Barbara, who begins a gourmet business.

In 1989, Michale Douglas and Kathleen Turner were an on-screen couple, having been paired in the 1984 “Romancing the Stone” (directed by Robert Zemeckis). Douglas played a hunter who assists successful but single romance novelist Joan Wilder. DeVito is an antiquities smuggler who, by taking Joan’s sister hostage, is the catalyst for the adventure. The three were also in its sequel, the 1985 “The Jewel of the Nile.” DeVito had his feature film directorial debut in “Throw Momma from the Train” (1987) where he costarred with Billy Crystal.

“The War of the Roses” is told from the viewpoint of Gavin D’Amato (DeVito), friend and colleague of Oliver Rose (Douglas). D’Amato is a $450-an-hour divorce attorney, now advising a potential client for free, telling the story of the Roses as a caveat.

Oliver meets Barbara while bidding on the same piece at a Nantucket auction. He’s a law student at Harvard. She’s also a student and gymnast. It’s a rainy day and although this is not a wet t-shirt contest, her shirt does get wet and they do fall into a lustful embrace. Barbara says, “If we end up together, then this is the most romantic evening of my life. And if we don’t, then I’m the world’s biggest slut.” They marry, have two children. She finds a large house in Washington, D.C. During the next 18 years, Oliver becomes a corporate lawyer while Barbara raises their family and decorates and furnishes their home with antiques.

She realizes that she’d be happy if Oliver dies when he ends up hospitalized for what he believes is a heart attack. She doesn’t even bother to talk to him or pick him up. One of the problems here is that Barbara is not a nice person. Granted, the film shows Oliver asking her to tell a story in front of important guests, but as she meanders, he interrupts and quickly tells the parts he believe are the important parts. But, Barbara teases the sweet, older dog that belongs to her husband. She’s a cat person and one of the lessons learned here, according to D’Amato, is that “Dog people should marry dog people and cat people should marry cat people.”

By the time of the divorce, their two children are in college (Sean Astin as Josh and Heather Fairfield as Carolyn). Barbara and Oliver divorce, but remain living in the house. That’s crazy, but neither is willing to give up the house. Gavin recalls, “There are two dilemmas that rattle the human skull. How do you hold onto someone who won’t stay? And how do you get rid of someone who won’t go?”

Overall, Oliver is portrayed more sympathetically Michael J. Leeson’s  (“I.Q.”) screenplay and it is Gavin who makes the most profound change, going from slightly sleezy playboy to devoted family man.

The Roses

This retelling of the saga of the warring Roses, benefits greatly from Australian screenwriter Tony McNamara’s script. The Oscar-nominated McNamara wrote the 2018 “The Favourite” which garnered Colman a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Anne, the queen over which two cousins Sarah and Abigail vie to be the titular favorite. His script “Poor Things” won Emma Stone an Oscar.

The film is not narrated by a divorce attorney with words of wisdom. The action doesn’t take place in Nantucket and no one is bidding on antiques, at least, not yet.

Instead, we have a couple, Theo and Ivy Rose (Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman), in therapy. Each has to make a list of ten things they love about the other. The compliments are backhanded slaps that are funny enough to at least temporarily take the sting away from the criticisms. The therapist feels this relationship is doomed, but maybe she just doesn’t understand the British.

Then we flash back to how this couple met. Theo was once a young architect bitterly brewing over the confinement of corporate models of apartments. His company is celebrating the completion of an apartment design, but Theo’s complaints about the loss of humanity and connection with nature do not go unnoticed. Not yet willing to commit career suicide, he abruptly escapes by invading the restaurant’s kitchen. There he meets a chef who is also simmering under the rules of her superiors. They take out their frustrations by having angry sex in the refrigerator room.

Theo and Ivy become a couple, marry and end up in Mendocino, California. Theo is an architect with a big commission. Ivy stays at home, raising their two kids, Hattie (Delaney Quinn) and Roy (Ollie Robinson). They have couple friends: Barry (Andy Samberg) and Amy (Kate McKinnon) and Sally (Zoë Chao) and Rory (Jamie Memetriou). Barry and all take the Roses to a gun club where Theo and Ivy learn to shoot like good Americans?

As a present, Theo finds a small building where Ivy can start a cafe which she calls “I’ve Got Crabs.” This is supposed to be a casual affair. She gets a small crew that includes Jeffrey (Ncuti Gate) and Jane (Sunita Mani).

When Theo’s career defining design for the East Bay Maritime Museum which has a moving sculptural representation of a ship is finally finished, he’s there to celebrate. Ivy is at the diner that struggles to get any customers. Then a historic storm hits. All the roads are closed. Unable to leave, people stop in at Ivy’s cafe, including an influential food critic. A good review changes the cafe into a popular dining destination in the next week.

Yet on the same night, Theo’s ship sinks, literally, crashing down. Theo becomes a viral internet meme. He is unemployable and becomes a househusband while Ivy becomes the breadwinner or rather, a crab shack tycoon.

This might seem like “A Star Is Born” without the music as we watch the destruction of a couple when the woman becomes the main moneymaker, but it is so much more than that. Theo focuses his disciplined architectural attitude into remaking his children. They become disciplined little future athletes, transforming into the slimmed down kids now played by Hala Finley as Hattie and Wells Rappaport as Roy. They do sprints; they eat sensibly. They have almost nothing in common with their often absent mother and depend upon their father/coach for advice on everything, including food.

Yet through her business, Ivy is able to offer Theo at chance at career redemption: Building them a house with a magnificent view of the Northern California coast’s crashing waves. This, of course, becomes the house they fight over in the divorce settlement. Ivy’s money paid for it, but it is every inch, Theo’s baby. The kitchen has two islands and a very special stove. The dining room also has an antique of some notoriety. The views are also amazing.

McNamara’s script shows that both Theo and Ivy are at fault. There are no cats or dogs to deal with, but the question of love, marriage and drunken follies come into focus. There is a chandelier, but no gymnastics.

The problems with this script is that one is not quite sure why Theo and Ivy stay friends with Barry and Amy. Instead of a sleazy lawyer colleague (DeVito in “The War of the Roses”), McKinnon’s Amy is overtly lusting after Theo. Of course fans of Cumberbatch might sympathize with her lust, but would Colman’s Ivy? The other problem is whisking the kids away even though they are clearly not adults. Still, I laughed and would watch this film again just to listen to the sharp dialogue and while I wasn’t initially convinced about the chemistry between Cumberbatch and Colman, on screen, they do have the kind of intimacy and incredible comedic timing this black comedy requires. One almost wants an encore to them as a quarreling couple in future films. As a director, Roach keeps the flow and timing, an exacting process for a black comedy.

This remake of the 1989 film is tighter, more balanced look at romance gone very, very wrong.

“The Roses” was released on 27 August 2025 in France and Italy. It will be released by Searchlight Pictures on 29 August 2025.