The Roses – Review

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 45 minutes, Director – Jay Roach

Architect Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) and chef Ivy (Olivia Colman) have been known as a strong, supportive couple for years, however as their careers start to go in different directions tensions and arguments rise, leading to a messy, and perhaps deadly, divorce battle.

I’ve not read Warren Adler’s The War Of The Roses, but it seems from the two major film adaptations since its release in 1981 that it might be something of a difficult book to adapt. Or, perhaps, making a film about a married couple increasingly hating each other makes for something difficult to engage with. While the acknowledged biting British sarcasm delivered by Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman brings one or two light chuckles, as opposed to Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner’s bitter jabs and jibes – playing off of their Romancing The Stone pairing, helped by the presence, and direction, of Danny DeVito – in the 1989 take, there’s still an eventual distance created by the characters and their feud.

Much of the marketing has revolved around the more heated arguments between the pair as they hurtle towards a messy divorce, however much of this is confined to the final 20 minutes. Beforehand we get a story of Theo (Cumberbatch) and Ivy (Olivia Colman) Rose trying to keep things intact despite their growing frustrations with each others lack of understanding about their careers going in very different directions. After a design goes wrong leading to a building collapse, architect Theo loses all work while Ivy’s part-time shift at her own seafood restaurant – amusingly titled We’ve Got Crabs – expands after a positive review from a major critic, eventually leading to mass PR and additional locations opening.

As comments start to bring different sparks to the relationship, as mentioned by friends such as Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon’s Barry and Amy – the latter constantly trying to make unsubtle moves and flirtations on Theo, feeling taken from a film from almost 15-20 years ago – there are occasional chuckles from the central pairing. However, Tony McNamara’s screenplay is very hit or miss when it comes to the gags, and much of the time it misses.

The cast, which also includes the likes of Ncuti Gatwa and Allison Janney; in one all-in-the-marketing scene, all appear to be having a good time watching and making the escalating sparring, particularly the more sweary dialogue. However, the same feeling doesn’t always translate as the film takes its time building up to what it promises in both the advertising and suggestions of the eventual directions the narrative will take. As a whole, much like the ’89 take which felt like a re-edited sitcom in its overall tone and style that shifted every 20 minutes, The Roses feels overlong. The stages are clear with the occasional jumps in time and pushes as to where Theo and Ivy’s marriage is going.

Attempts are made to create a balance between the pair’s eventual back-and-forth behaviour and sabotage, largely in terms of both being as bad as each other; early on its the case of a lack of communication between them about how they’re feeling and coping with the ongoing changes in their lives and marriage. However, it’s very easy to pick a side when one character seems to be a good deal more stubborn and belligerent than the other, especially earlier on – perhaps stemmed from insecurity from having lost his job and not being the main breadwinner of the household, although this idea isn’t really delved into, or suggested, much.

As things get worse between Cumberbatch and Colman’s characters, leading to an awkward dinner party with their friends, the film begins to feel messier. While there are some chuckles at just how far they go with their efforts to get the other to give up their want for the house there comes a point where the aforementioned hate between the pair just stems to a point where there’s less and less humour. The characters almost seem to be unlikable, and therefore difficult to connect with and gain an emotional response from. It’s an issue which runs throughout The Roses, which consistently feels as if it has a foot slightly stuck in the past and never quite forms a proper connection with the central couple to truly see it through.

With more misses than hits The Roses struggles to create a proper connection with the central couple, only made worse by the lack of humour in their growing hate for each other across the overlong run-time.