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With: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Kate McKinnon, Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, Sunita Mani, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Demetriou, Zoë Chao, Belinda Bromilow, Hala Finley, Wells Rappaport, Akie Kotabe
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Written by: Tony McNamara, based on a novel by Warren Adler
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Directed by: Jay Roach
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MPAA Rating: R for language throughout, sexual content, and drug content
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Running Time: 105
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Date: 08/29/2025
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Thorn Stars
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
We haven't seen anything like The Roses in quite a while, perhaps not as long ago as 1989 when Warren Adler's novel was adapted into Danny DeVito's pitch-dark, razor sharp film comedy The War of the Roses, but quite a while. The market for movies about adults seems to have dwindled.
Ivy (Olivia Colman) and Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) meet cute in a restaurant where Ivy works and where Theo is trying to escape an aggravating dinner meeting. Cut to years later, and they have two children. Theo is a successful architect, and Ivy uses her master chef skills making treats at home. Theo arranges for her to open a little seafood restaurant ("We've Got Crabs").
One fateful night, massive storm simultaneously destroys one of Theo's buildings and drives many customers to the restaurant, including a food critic, and their fortunes trade places. The unemployed Theo builds a beautiful house for them, using Ivy's newfound income. Everything builds up to a head when simmering tensions and small slights mount, and the couple begin attempting to destroy each other's lives in the most absurdly cruel and violent ways imaginable.
What's remarkable about The Roses is how thoroughly different it is from DeVito's film; it could barely even qualify as a remake, which is refreshing. Cumberbatch and Colman are a delightful team and their back-and-forth fights and makeups are an energetic dance. Another bonus is Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon as Barry and Amy, the Roses' best friends. (McKinnon, of course, gets some of the movie's biggest laughs.) Yet another bonus is a single scene with Allison Janney as a shrewd divorce lawyer.
Jay Roach's direction is serviceable, but also light and speedy, resulting in a movie that updates the source material and keeps it funny. Two-time Oscar nominee Tony McNamara (The Favourite, Poor Things) wrote the screenplay.
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