Film: The Roses
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Andy Samberg, Kate McKinnon, Allison Janney, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Demetriou, Zoe Chao
Director: Jay Roach
Rating: 3.5/5
Runtime: 105 min
Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman are among the most gifted actors of their generation, so when they come together in a film you expect to see sparks flying all around. The intent is there in the story of a warring couple whose supposed ideal life is hiding a storm of fierce competition and resentment but there’s really no chemistry between the actors to turn this into a memorable conflagration.
‘The Roses’, a modern take on the howlarious, dark, money spinner, Danny DeVito’s ‘The War of the Roses’ starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, which was based on Warren Adler’s novel, has a funny script by Tony McNamara, but the comedy doesn’t quite come alive on film. The iconic film that released 36 years ago might feel dated but the fire and brimstone performances and the fiery spell it managed to cast on the audience can never be forgotten. This new one is another matter altogether.
Director Jay Roach tries to lend fresh perspective to the anti-romance spiel of warring vitriol between opposite genders. Seemingly well-matched life partners Ivy (Olivia Colman) and Theo Rose (Benedict Cumberbatch), a picture-perfect couple with successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids, after a power shift in their equation, find themselves trying to kill each other. It’s the classic matrimony to acrimony tale that takes us through a fairly witty incendiary matrimonial dispute that devolves into murderous intent.
The narrative opens with the couple in therapy. We get to hear them spitting biting repartee that makes the therapist react in horror. They are asked to share 10 things that they love about each other and the biting, bitterly witty answers give the therapist a headache. For Ivy and Theo, that’s actually the basis of their attraction. Dry deprecating humor is what attracted them to each other. It still spouts from their mouths but the couple have deadened themselves to the pleasures and are on curve to letting loose.
Architect Theo (Cumberbatch) and chef Ivy Rose (Colman) have been married for 10 years, have a pair of twins Hattie (Hala Finley) and Roy (Wells Rappaport) and have left cold, dank UK for sunny Northern California. They have an insatiable sex life but…His career falls apart when a terrible storm obliterates an ostentatious new museum he has designed, while hers flourishes thereafter, because an influential food critic who took solace in her restaurant gives her a glowing review. This triggers their unraveling. Barry(Andy Samberg) and Amy (Kate McKinnon) have a sexless marriage, and Rory (Jamie Demetriou) and Sally (Zoë Chao) let the unspoken resentments affect their relationship, in comparison.
Their banter remains interesting even when they are at war, trying to humiliate and destroy each other. Their conflict isn’t the mainstay here. Their warring feels rather tame when compared to Danny DeVito’s film.
Roach’s ‘Roses’ is not defined by the scorching passion that was exhibited in ‘The War of the Roses.’ Here, the passion doesn’t spring to the surface. It’s suggested rather than exhibited. Turner and Douglas could ignite a passionate war because their chemistry together was entirely volatile. ‘The Roses’ has Cumberbatch and Colman put in a studied effort, which fails to combust.
The comedic set pieces play out as mildly funny.
When Theo and Ivy finally consider calling it quits, the audience is ready to let them go their separate ways. The Roses don’t have weighty issues crowding their marriage.
Roach makes the film about shallow problems and insignificant issues. This comedy-drama largely, fails to approximate a long-term relationship going sour.
