The Roses

Warren Adler’s 1981 novel ”The War of the Roses”, was first given the movie treatment in 1989 in Danny Devito’s film of the same name starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas. This latest iteration of what is essentially a noir rom-com, directed by Jay Roach (of “Meet the Fockers” and Austin Powers fame), is currently filling cinemas with audiences keen not to miss two of our finest stars strutting their comedy stuff.

As the film opens Ivy, played by the multi-talented Olivia Coleman, is working as a frustrated commis chef within a large organisation. Enter Theo Rose (played by a pitch-perfect Benedict Cumberbatch), an architect equally frustrated in his working life. They immediately fall in love over her trout carpaccio and, before we know it, Theo is suggesting they run away together.  

Flash forward a decade and we find the couple happily married and living in sun-kissed California with their two winsome children. Enjoying success in his work as an architect, Theo decides to give Ivy the leg up he feels she needs and promptly buys her the premises necessary to expand her business. So far so domestically harmonious.

Then a storm arrives, quite literally blowing Theo’s career out of the water. At the same time as his professional reputation is collapsing in spectacular fashion, Ivy is reaping the benefit of the improved accessibility brought about by the bad weather in the form of vastly increased footfall. The sudden tsunami of diners at her shack includes a famous New York food critic who raves at her new ‘find’. Almost overnight Ivy’s seafood joint, mischievously-named “We’ve got crabs!” takes off in a big way. Ivy’s star begins to rise.

Now struggling to find a job, Theo assumes the role of stay-at-home dad to Hattie and Roy, a role he takes to assiduously. Gone are the illicit treats dished up by mum at ungodly hours, in comes a régime of health-giving foods and punishing physical activity. Gradually the dynamic of Ivy and Theo’s made-in-heaven marriage begins to shift. Theo starts to feel increasingly resentful at being ‘relegated’ to house-husband, while his wife is busy courting the world’s food press. After a while, Ivy takes pity on her husband and provides him with the wherewithal to design and build their dream home, a task he sets to with gusto. Little do the pair suspect that this perfect home will become an all-important bargaining chip in the divorce battle that ensues before long.

The second half of the film shows the extent to which the delicate equilibrium of the Rose marriage has been irrevocably disturbed. Once the time comes for the kids to pack up and leave for college, the stage is set for the real fun to begin. We watch (through our hands at times) as the couple progress from fairly low-level bickering to increasingly vitriolic exchanges and stand-up confrontations. As both partners become more entrenched in their respective positions, so the language turns bluer and the insults more vicious. The final conflagration that ends the film is a cinematic feast, if a bit silly in places!

I enjoyed this film on the whole. There is plenty to laugh out loud at, and I could tell that much of the banter was making many a married toe curl! Cumberbatch and Colman are superb, equally at home in both the darker moments and the lighter, comedic parts. The minor characters are less satisfactory, some are downright lame. There are a few standout scenes, including Theo and Rose meeting with their respective lawyers as they discuss divorce, and the raucous set piece dinner party where the two stars really go for the jugular. The ending verges on slapstick, but most people seemed to enjoy it and left the cinema smiling. Who knew marital rancour could be such fun?