The Roses is uncomfortably funny. It comes in hot as a modern adaptation of The War of the Roses, the novel about two spouses waging psychological warfare on one another as their marriage falls apart, along with the 1989 film adaptation of the same name. It walks a fine line between being entertaining and too harsh – and perhaps a little bit too real – as it dissects the downfall of a loving relationship and the role people play in letting it all break apart. This 2025 take does feel quite different from the previous film adaptation, and it makes for a hilarious couple of hours, due largely to its enigmatic leads and their wonderful chemistry with one another.
Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch), a talented architect at the peak of his career, is married to Ivy (Olivia Colman), a wonderful chef who is content in her motherly role, cooking for her kids and baking tantalising desserts for her husband. They have witty banter, show genuine love and admiration, and seemingly have the perfect marriage. One night, during a storm, things take a serious shift in their lives; Theo’s latest project takes a public tumble, while Ivy’s barely-known restaurant becomes a trending hit. The roles of career success are instantly reversed, and things start falling apart dramatically.
Of course, we know that this clash is inevitable, as The Roses starts off with a couples-counselling therapy session between Theo and Ivy, where they struggle to come up with lists of nice things to say about their partner. It’s a whip-cracking, amusing start, and the chemistry here – even when tearing each other to pieces – is off the charts between Cumberbatch and Colman. They do some of their best work here, as we flash back to how they met, their growing affection for each other and, eventually, their downfall. Both actors are having a brilliant time, and their comic timing is delightfully jarring, especially when the insults start flying freely across the dinner table.
“…the dialogue is utterly savage while still remaining funny”
In the original film adaptation, the roles were reversed in terms of career trajectory, so it’s nice in this modern version of The Roses that Ivy becomes the runaway success, leaving Theo in her dust as she jet-sets across the world, loving her newfound public adoration. This leaves Theo in charge of the kids, and their opposite parenting styles come to the forefront: Ivy happily feeds the kids sweets loaded with sugar, while Theo sets them on a fitness path that turns them into machine-like athletes at a self-imposed bootcamp. This is just one key disagreement that bubbles throughout the film, as Ivy realises she has traded off her maternal side to become a cooking sensation, leaving her children at the whim of Theo and his own views on what good parenting looks like. Things get more tense when Ivy funds Theo’s dream architecture project, and the budget quickly goes off the rails.
Screenwriter Tony McNamara does a decent job of walking a very fine line, where the dialogue is utterly savage while still remaining funny and heartfelt. The Roses has some uncomfortable moments; certain zingers at a dinner party are intense, sure to generate “ooo’s” from the audience. But Cumberbatch and Colman deliver the lines with real gravitas. These are two people who loved each other. And still likely do. There’s some hate mixed in there now, sure, but defining what that looks like and what it means for the couple makes for a pretty compelling character piece, even when it veers into overly silly territory as the war rages on.
The remaining stellar cast are all game, even when the focus remains squarely on Theo and Ivy for most of the runtime. As the resentment grows, Barry (Andy Samberg) and his hilariously inappropriate wife Amy (Kate McKinnon) get the most laughs, particularly with how wildly different they are in contrast. McKinnon nails this role; delightfully unhinged and horny, she stands out with some of the weirder moments, chewing up the screen whenever she’s present. Sally (Zoë Chao) and Rory (Jami Demetriou) are another couple in the mix as annoying architecture snobs, with Chao in particular having some memorable one-liners that had me spitting out my drink. Ivy’s front-of-house manager, Jeffrey (Ncuti Gatwa) and sous chef Jane (Sunita Mani) make up the numbers, with the occasional comedic moment, but are mostly there to be wide-eyed, reacting to the vitriol going on around them.
Lastly, the wonderful Alison Janney swans in for a brilliant, sharply-delivered scene as a divorce lawyer, but her time is all too brief in The Roses. In fact, all of these talented cast members would have benefited from a bit more development. These are funny people, and I wish they had more to do than simply react to Cumberbatch and Colman a lot of the time. It would upset me more if the two leads weren’t so damn watchable. As Theo and Ivy go through the rollercoaster that is their relationship, it’s impossible not to be drawn in. Their comic timing and undeniable chemistry carry The Roses, even though it underserves the rest of its ensemble.
By the time the credits rolled, I’d laughed a lot and even paused to consider my own long-term relationship and how relatable some of these scenarios can be. Even when they start to hate each other, they don’t forget where they came from and the familial bonds that tie them together. That makes the barbs that are thrown cut even deeper, as they realise that hurting one another might not be as satisfying as it seems on the surface. The Roses doesn’t rewrite the book on this kind of genre comedy, but it still successfully delivers a relationship car-crash that you can’t look away from.
The Roses is in cinemas now.
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Checkpoint Gaming attended a screening of The Roses as a guest of 20th Century Studios Australia.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
