The Roses

8/26/2025

Reimagining a classic film can be tricky business, especially when it involves one that’s well-liked and well-known. But, with the right team behind such a project, the result can be positively delightful, and such is definitely the case with this reworking of the 1989 dark comedy, “The War of the Roses.” In fact, in this case, I’d even go so far as to say that this new production is actually an improvement over its often-overrated predecessor. Director Jay Roach’s scathingly biting comedy follows the lives of Theo and Ivy Rose (Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman), a pair of successful British professionals who quickly fall madly in love, marry and resettle in northern California, eventually becoming the proud parents of two children. Theo is an accomplished architect, while Ivy is a gift

9/4/2025

I think you can tell when actors are enjoying making a film, and both Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch look like they enjoyed letting the badger loose here. He’s an architect and she a budding chef when they meet in her kitchen. A tiny bit of raw trout later - might that be a euphemism - and they are wed and we have skipped on to their lives in California. They have two children and he has just designed a daring new maritime museum. He doesn’t get to sit on his laurels for long though as an opening night storm causes this couple to have to consider some role reversing. Now, not only is “Ivy” the bread maker, but she’s the bread winner too. When a food critic stops by her seaside bistro and acclaims it wildly, “Theo” is consigned to a role of unfulfilled husbandry and child-minding wh