Lamar Reviews - "The Roses" (Airdate 9/5/2025)

There was a 1989 movie called The War of the
Roses starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner
and Danny Devito. I thought this was a remake of
that movie, but technically it is a reimagining of the
same novel because a lot of the plot points are
different.
Both are about a happily married couple that have
problems, decide to divorce, and eventually wind
up fighting over the house.
The Roses stars the amazing Olivia Colman who
played the Queen in the TV series The Crown and
Queen Anne in the Favorite, which earned her an
Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA (British
Academy of Film and Television Arts). And
Benedict Cumberbatch, who has played
everything from Doctor Strange to Sherlock
Holmes, and has been great in everything I’ve
ever seen him do.
The movie opens with Theo, played by
Cumberbatch and Ivy, played by Colman, in the
middle of a couples-counseling session where

they make a list of things they like about each
other. Their lists are both savage and hilarious. It
sets the expectation of how the banter is going to
go. The movie then takes a quick time-travel back
to a meet-cute where Theo runs into Ivy in a UK
restaurant kitchen where she is a cook. 30
seconds after they meet, they are hooking up in a
meat locker. They wind up moving to America
where Theo is a very successful architect and Ivy
is a stay-at-home mom. Theo wants to see Ivy’s
dreams come true so he buys a closed down
restaurant she can re-open.
A crazy event happens that causes Theo to
become unemployed, and Ivy to become a famous
chef so they have a complete role reversal. She is
now the breadwinner, and he is Mr. Mom. A role
he is not really suited for. Theo is busy with his
stay-at-home-dad duty turning his son and
daughter into super athletes while Ivy has a
growing restaurant chain and drinking champagne
on private jets. He resents her success; she
resents him for that while hating herself for not

being there for her children. That is when the
fireworks really begin.
The movie is 1 hour 45 minutes, Rated-R for
language, sexual content, language, drug content,
and language. When I say language, I mean not
one letter of the alphabet is missed and a few are
repeated multiple times. Just so you know.
The banter between Theo and Ivy is lightning fast
and cuts like a Ginsu knife. There were times
when I could not catch my breath. Adding to all of
this is Andy Samberg, and Kate McKinnon as
Theo’s attorney and his wife. Allison Janey has a
cameo as Ivy’s attorney and for the few minutes
she is on the screen she owns the movie.
If you haven’t seen the 1989 War of the Roses you
really should, it’s great. That being said, The
Roses absolutely stands on its own. The dialog
was some of the best I’ve ever heard in a movie.
Everybody in the theater, including me, was
laughing out loud.
My Score: 5 cold frosty Buds