The Reel Review
A couple’s happy marriage falls apart after Ivy Rose stumbles into a wildly successful new career as a world-famous chef, just as husband Theo Rose sees his career as a successful architect implode in epic fashion. Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch star in this reimagining of the 1989 dark comedy The War of the Roses from director Jay Roach (Bombshell, Meet the Fockers).
The onscreen chemistry, humor and clever banter between Colman and Cumberbatch are stellar, which helps to make up for a story about the impact of career-related stress on marriage that is otherwise pretty lightweight. The ensemble cast – which includes Kate McKinnon, Andy Samberg and Zoë Chao (Nightbitch, The Afterparty) – is packed with too many characters with too little to do. On top of that, the more dramatic parts are never really all that nasty, nor are they really convincing due to the likability of the two main characters.
The charisma between the two leads helps offset some of the schlocky, slapstick humor, and Oscar-winner Allison Janney (I, Tonya) steals the show as the take-no-prisoners divorce attorney in the third act. The ending, while different from the original, is still a jolt of dark humor but this remake, while entertaining, lacks the bite of the original.
REEL FACTS
• Olivia Colman will next appear with Dev Patel in the twisted romance Wicker, about an unmarried fisherwoman who, fed up with her judgmental neighbors, creates a husband made of wicker.
• The Roses director Jay Roach’s wife Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles) sings the song “Happy Together” with Rufus Wainwright in the film.
• Although set in Mendocino, California, The Roses was filmed along the southwestern English coast in the picturesque, coastal town of Salcombe, Devon.
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