Directed By Jay Roach

Starring – Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kate McKinnon

The Plot – Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy (Colman) and Theo (Cumberbatch): successful careers, great kids, an enviable sex life. But underneath the façade of the perfect family is a tinderbox of competition and resentments that’s ignited when Theo’s professional dreams come crashing down.

Rated R for adult language throughout, sexual content, and drug content

THE ROSES | Official Trailer | Searchlight Pictures

POSITIVES

Considering this is a biting comedy about matrimonial conflict, the material from screenwriter Tony McNamara (The Favourite, Poor Things) has to hit effectively and consistently, and with two constant professionals like Colman and Cumberbatch at his disposal, he crafts such caustically scathing dialogue that cuts precisely like the sharpest knife, providing ample opportunity for his bickering lovers to lose themselves in the words that are unleashed venomously like weapons. As expected, the film provides endless amounts of laughter, particularly during the first half, when the atmosphere is still light and frothy with continuous poking and prodding, however it’s also highly integral towards conveying the psychological insight that each of them toe tenderly in testing the waters between their evolving conflict, with love serving as a truth serum of sorts for internalized agony that feels anything but suppressed, taking its characters down the deepest and darkest corridors of their psychologies that articulates such a monumentally unresolved resentment that each of these people have for one another. On top of this, Roach’s direction does feel noticeably conflicted within its own intended evolution, but when it works it pertains to illustrating the small pebbles of jealousy and insecurity that becomes this insurmountable elephant in the room that continuously hangs overhead in the discomforts of their interactions, conveying a cautionary tale of sorts for an adoring audience, in that materialistic things so often and easily serve as the basis for connective divide that come to define this relationship. It’s obvious that Roach has drawn inspiration from the 1989 Michael Douglas original movie, “The War of the Roses”, but Roach admirably steers his own ship towards uncharted waters, in order to give this a modernized update that encompasses contemporary dating even more thoroughly than its predecessor, based on far more feeble elements that have come to conflict today’s relationships, and while very little about the pocketed conflicts materialize naturally or even believably without contrivances, there’s enough unsubtle reminder to those of us who have been in love the murky depths that such a condition will take you, providing instant relief that you’re watching this kind of thing entertainingly, instead of living it once more. On top of this, the performances from Colman and Cumberbatch are the true heartbeat of the engagement, with each of them riding the waves of relationship remorse, which offers each of them the opportunity to dip their toes in comedy and dramatic waters, providing captivating emphasis why they’re both such masters of their acting craft. Colman devilishly delves into the advantageous benefits of emerging fame with Ivy’s career, but her demeanor becomes all the more confrontational from it, unloading long-winded dialogue with the vitriolic velocity of a woman scorned, and in his most charismatically unhinged turn to date, Cumberbatch articulates a mental instability within Theo that is a blast to experience in real time, even if entirely compromising to his character’s once impenetrable projection of success. While the film is comprised of a laundry list of comedians behind every supporting turn, it’s actually the two leads who appraise the most consistency for comedic timing, and while I didn’t exactly empathize with either of them, a point the original film also made quite apparent, the charms and neurotics of their portrayals truly bring these characters to life, cementing two memorable turns from prestigious actors enriched by the kind of three-dimensional personality that serves as a combustible element between their explosive disputes. Lastly, while I certainly had my issues with the third act of this movie, I found the ending to be downright brilliant, especially since the aforementioned original film goes the safe route with resolving the dispute between its conflicting couple. Without spoiling anything, I will just say that this one ends a lot darker than I could’ve ever possibly expected, with a closing shot that not only hints at inevitable possibilities persisting past the point of the movie’s credits, but also an emerging irony about the actions we take coming back to define us, leveling us with the most subtle of sincerity’s that left my jaw hitting the floor in its most defining moment.

NEGATIVES

Not everything is copacetic within this relationship or the movie’s execution, however, as many uninspiring aspects took away some of the momentum from its finished product, particularly a third act that drifts into the kind of mean-spirited territory that abolishes the engaging indulgence of the zany rapport between these characters, in favor of personal digs that wipes away any semblance of redeeming qualities for either of them. While I can wholeheartedly understand that the intention is to showcase lovers stripped down to their most ruthlessness, the comedy doesn’t land as effectively during this time, and the tone feels like it deviates abruptly closer to dramatic than I would’ve preferred, and the results feel like this inescapable night of hell with a couple that you’re forced to endure, who will stop at nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, to reap the greedy benefits of the foundation that they’ve built for one another. On top of this, the inferior side to Roach’s direction pertains to an overall blandness with the presentation that fails to capitalize on the upper class elegance of the couple’s wealth, or even artistic impulses pertaining to meaningful framing or co-dependent editing to coincide with the swiftness of the comedy’s intended deliveries. Most comedy directors don’t concern themselves with cinematic techniques, on account of it not being the central reason why their audience seeks out such an experience, but I truly feel here that such advancements would’ve added to the atmospheric resonance of what was channeled merely physically between the actors involved, and with the camera work never feeling daring or ambitious, it undercuts the appeal and magnitude of such an engagement, re-affirming my single biggest critique towards Roach’s work, despite him being a 90’s and early 2000’s comedic genius of a director. Last but not least, I found the supporting ensemble almost entirely disposable on account of their one-dimensionality that takes the same character in personality, and fleshes it out for eight different characters. As you would expect, this becomes a bit tedious to the integrity of the engagement, especially considering they only occasionally pop into frame to make a strange or quirky observation, in order to remind us of their comedian background, but I never felt that their material or deliveries were brandished naturally in the same kind of nuance or grace that Colman and Cumberbatch effortlessly elicited, and results, particularly with Kate McKinnon or Andy Samberg, are these improvisational exploits that stretch the pacing of any scene that they forcefully influence, and it makes me wish that McNamara would’ve condensed the entirety of them into just one or two characters, instead of an entire group made to fill a Spanish Inquisition dining room table, especially considering their theft of the movie’s focus far too often sacrifices that of Colman and Cumberbatch’s impeccable timing and chemistry.

OVERALL
“The Roses” flourishes matrimonial frenzy with a razor sharp script from Tony McNamara that cuts delicately deep at rivaling relationships, uncovering the darkly unforgiving side of significant others that prove the crippling devastation of love’s grasp on insecurity and jealousy. While the film’s bland direction and stacking supporting trades threaten to sacrifice its stable foundational exploit towards the updates in contemporary dating, it’s ultimately saved by two charmingly combative performances from Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch, who fuel the fires of their cut-throat feud with so much caustic wit and dramatic vulnerability that maintain the humanity within their haunting actions, enacting a devilishly demented abolition of love that steals your heart, only after it cuts it out of your chest.

My Grade: 6.6 or C+