Watching The Roses, makes one want to take another look at its notorious forerunner, The War of the Roses (1989). That film, starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas, directed by Danny DeVito, was at once a throwback to the tit-for-tat violence of the silent era comedies, and a frightening insight into the consequences of middle-class materialism. As the story developed momentum it began to seem less of a comedy and more of a horror movie, with Turner and Douglas being merciless with each other. As their marital dispute turns increasingly homicidal, one thinks: “Please make them stop!”
Jay Roach’s The Roses revisits Warren Adler’s 1981 novel but keeps its distance from the DeVito film. There’s still plenty of aggro as the marriage collapses into chaos, but the characters in this version are never as purely malevolent as those played by Turner and Douglas.
The script is by Australia’s Tony McNamara, who has enjoyed tremendous success with two films by Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite (2018) and Poor Things (2023). McNamara may owe his ascendency to the fact that he writes witty, quirky dialogue, rather than the dreadful hash of exclamations, mutterings and clichés that passes for a screenplay with so many contemporary Hollywood features.