The Roses (2025)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on September 2, 2025 @ tonymacklin.net.

The Roses is the seven stages of grievous comedy. From shock to acceptance. It's a heady, capricious ride.

The director Jay Roach has said it is not a remake of The War of the Roses (1989), although it has some similarities. It's a new, different take that will challenge audiences.

The Roses in this version are Brits who wind up in California. They are Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Ivy (Olivia Colman). In California Theo becomes a noted architect, and Ivy is a struggling chef. But what complicates their relationship is that Theo undergoes abject failure, and Ivy has sudden, huge success.

Theo becomes a stay-at-home dad who trains his two children with an arduous schedule of fitness. Ivy is seldom at home -- she's out and about basking and coping with her overwhelming success. It's not a favorable mix for their relationship.

The film's opening scene lets us know what we are in for. It takes place in the office of a marriage counselor, and Theo and Ivy take part in a bawdy repartee.

Language is going to play a major part in all that follows.

The screenplay by Australian Tony McNamara (The Favourite, 2018) is going to have lethal punch. Director Jay Roach uses it to advantage.

As do the two terrific performers. Cumberbatch and Colman are at the top of their game.

Language is crucial as we can see in tv's The Thursday Murder Club (Netflix), which has mediocre writing which stymies cast Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, and Pierce Brosnan, gifted actors who can't transcend the writing.

Cumberbatch and Colman give life to the words in The Roses.

It's difficult to predict how audiences will react to The Roses. Director Roach, et al. depend on them to accept what they're doing. Even the end is not literal.

It depends on the audience. But the seven stages conclude with acceptance.