The Roses
Not everything is coming up roses for the couple at the heart of Jay Roach’s slick, acerbic black comedy.
Barbed banter: Olivia Colman, Belinda Bromilow and Benedict Cumberbatch
Image courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.
You know when you laugh so much that it hurts? And you end up in A&E? Well, watching The Roses, a loose remake of Danny DeVito’s The War of the Roses (1989), could put you in the same neck brace. The tragedy is that Theo and Ivy Rose are made for each other and, hand in hand, are achieving their respective dreams. Theo is an outspoken, visionary eco-friendly architect with a massive client list and Ivy is a passionate and imaginative chef with an instinct for what makes seafood tick. They’re also cultured, witty and charming, in that quintessentially English way that their successful American friends dote on. And once they move to Mendocino, California, Theo and Ivy produce a pair of cute American twins – a girl and a boy – and settle down to a life of love and privilege. Of course, Theo and Ivy’s marriage is too good to be true and even when Ivy’s seafood restaurant ‘We’ve Got Crabs!’ takes off, Theo is happy to take on the time-consuming demands of parenting. He believes in a rigorous fitness regime and healthy food, while Ivy smuggles the kids ice cream sandwiches at midnight…
Both Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman make for more than agreeable company and genuinely look like they adore each other (they are close friends in real life). It’s them against the rest of the world, as only they seem to get each other. So, when Life, with a capital L, starts to chip away at their status quo we really do feel their pain. Another bonus about the film is the tart, smart dialogue of Tony McNamara, he who won deserved acclaim for The Favourite and Poor Things. And this is one of those comedies, of whatever hue, that serves the supporting players as well as the chief clowns (Kate McKinnon is, as usual, a complete hoot). With performers this accomplished and the dialogue they are given to chew on, The Roses is a delight as it is. But beneath the gloss there is a seam of recognisable life, of real marital strife that many may be able to identify with. And it’s painful.
Watching this ideal couple fall apart in the name of black comedy is a mixed pleasure and, considering everything that has gone before, it is at times almost unbearable to witness. Maybe Cumberbatch and Colman are just too good, too perfect in their skins, so that when Theo and Ivy start to exploit each other’s weaknesses out of spite, it really is no laughing matter. Of course, it depends how black you like your black humour and The Roses just about survives its curve balls, ably manipulated by that old pro’ Jay Roach (who brought not dissimilar bedlam to Meet the Parents). Depending on one’s own position in the marital unit, one may seem more forgiving of one character’s failings than the other’s. Personally, to this critic, it seemed like a one-sided contest – and the film ends up being a far scarier experience than the recent horror shows at the multiplex. So, choose your gender carefully.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Andy Samberg, Kate McKinnon, Ncuti Gatwa, Allison Janney, Belinda Bromilow, Sunita Mani, Jamie Demetriou, Zoë Chao, Delaney Quinn, Ollie Robinson, Hala Finley, Wells Rappaport.
Dir Jay Roach, Pro Adam Ackland, Leah Clarke, Ed Sinclair, Tom Carver, Jay Roach and Michelle Graham, Screenplay Tony McNamara, Ph Florian Hoffmeister, Pro Des Mark Ricker, Ed Jon Poll, Music Theodore Shapiro, Costumes P.C. Williams, Sound Ando Johnson.
South of the River Pictures/SunnyMarch/Delirious Media-Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
105 mins. UK/USA. 2025. UK and US Rel: 29 August 2025. Cert. 15.
