This review may contain spoilers!
The Roses is a loose adaptation of 'The War of the Roses' by Warren Adler and a remake of The War of the Roses (1989). In this feature, Theo and Ivy Rose are a perfect husband-and-wife duo, with two kids and a lifestyle that they seem to love on the surface. However, when an unpredictable storm changes the power balance of their relationship forever, these star-crossed lovers start to become bitter enemies.
I really cannot praise the script for The Roses enough; it is a sharp, well-paced piece of storytelling from beginning to end. The dialogue in particular is cracking; the level of witty back-and-forth set alongside devastating insults had me in stitches throughout. This is the sort of film that understands it wants to make the audience laugh, but it never shoots for an easy joke when one that feels authentic to the material could be worked towards. At the heart of this thing is Theo and Ivy, two very charismatic and somewhat narcissistic individuals who love personal success as much as they do each other. These characters are complex individuals with their own wants and needs, and most intriguingly, their own grievances with one another. I like how this film really built the conflict from a place of nothing to a simmering aggression that you were waiting to see spill out across multiple scenes. Even the moments where our protagonists came back together and patched things over felt so incredibly toxic, temporary and tantalising enough to keep one watching. This film is likely the funniest thing I will see this year, and the ultimate punchline hits like the absolute mic drop that it is.
This is an absolutely stunning film to look at, setting the visual bar for comedies by a wide margin. The cinematography across this film highlights some stunning on-location shooting and remarkable sets. The Roses has a very refined look without ever coming off as too snobby. The editing is as quickfire as the dialogue, moving a scene with a tremendous sense of pacing. I found the score to be chaotic and even foreboding at times, with the soundtrack really doing some good legwork as well. 'Happy Together by Susanna Hoffs and Rufus Wainwright is an inspired track to introduce and conclude the feature with.
Olivia Colman, who played Ivy Rose, is an absolutely prolific leading performance; Colman and Cumberbatch together create a tangled and messy relationship that is still brimming with chemistry. Andy Samberg, who played Barry, is quite sincere as Cumberbatch's insecure best friend; Samberg is quite level with his own humour around his failing yet surviving marriage. Ncuti Gatwa, who played Jeffrey, is a very charismatic individual who works well paired with Colman; Gatwa serves as the restaurant business confidant nicely. Jamie Demetriou. who played Rory, has a deadpan delivery that lands in a very humorous way; there is almost a rivalry between him and Cumberbatch, which I quite enjoyed. Delaney Quinn and Ollie Robinson, who played the Younger Hattie Rose and Roy Rose respectively, are not only some fantastic child performances but supremely funny actors; this is a pair who bounce off one another well and actually livened up a scene with a fresh comedic perspective. Hala Finley, who played Older Hattie Rose, continues the momentum Quinn starts nicely; Finley has an almost blunt and removed way of delivering lines to her onscreen parents, which works well. Allison Janney, who played Eleanor, is a real mean-spirited fighter; I found her ability to go from vicious lawyer to cordial local amusing.
However, the best performance came from Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Theo Rose. This is a film that lives and dies on the performances of the two leads, and it is extremely tough to choose between them. Cumberbatch's role is an arrogant sort, the kind of guy who needs to flex his ego and have his self-worth validated by others. Yet, he is a very gentle family man at first glance, really caring and quite invested in the future of all members of the Rose family. Watching Cumberbatch play to the whirling chaos of his design going wrong and the collapse of his career is as gripping as it is entertaining. I liked the transition to ultra-driven stay-at-home Dad who is whipping his kids up into miniature superstar athletes. The way Cumberbatch engages with bitter conflict is just oozing with venom; I could have watched the back and forth between him and Coleman for much longer. I think Cumberbatch is the sort of actor who can really ground a role even when he is playing to an innately comedic script, and that works a treat here.
The Roses weakness rears its head in the final act, though there are smatterings of the issue throughout. The final act sees the revenge element the leads have against one another take quite an extreme turn; there's almost a sharp turn for the outlandish. More than this, it makes the conflict and conflict scenes come off as somewhat repetitive, which is a flaw in the narrative structure, too. There's a particular moment where a character holds the other's allergies against the other, which would have resulted in death. It's a grim scene that gets to the heart of the toxic relationship while also feeling quite extreme. Watching the characters shoot at one another and throw knives later is almost tamer by comparison.
Kate McKinnon, who played Amy, really feels like she is angling towards one of her SNL characters here; McKinnon isn't playing to the material and feels like she is often doing awful adlib work. Sunita Mani, who played Jane, is present in the restaurant storyline but has very little to do; Mani falls prey to a cheap 'sex in the chiller' scene and doesn't rise to much more than this. Zoё Chao, who played Sally, is bubbling with energy but not always the best at directing; her attempts at humour are quite obvious. Wells Rappaport, who played Older Roy Rose, doesn't find the humour with the same ease as Finley or even Robinson does; the son role starts to fall into the background as a result.
One of the very best comedies of 2025, I could have walked right back into the theatre and watched it all over again. I would give The Roses an 8.5 out of 10.
