I’m a huge fan of 1989’s The War Of the Roses. Not only is it the best thing Danny DeVito ever directed, but it’s also, in my opinion, the best onscreen pairing of Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. It’s also incredibly accurate, if totally over the top, in its depiction of marriage and how the small, everyday annoyances can build up into a nuclear warhead. It is a delightfully nasty film.
Labor Day brings an updated version of the Rose story in The Roses. Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman play the warring roses. This time, he’s a once-successful architect whose career is in a downward spiral. He grows to resent his wife’s increasingly prominent status as an internationally recognized chef. Tensions escalate, and they eventually want a divorce. But they can’t agree on who gets the house, which neither party will vacate.
Jay Roach (Bombshell, Game Change) directs a Tony McNamara (The Favourite, Poor Things) screenplay. From the newly released trailer, they’re definitely going for broad comedy rather than the far darker mixture brewed in the 1989 version. It almost has the feeling of an old Warner Bros. cartoon, honestly. At any rate, it looks fun if not specifically “awards bait.” But that’s ok. I’ll very much enjoy those two fantastic actors warring against each other any day.
The Roses debuts in theaters nationwide on August 29, 2025.
