Danny DeVito's "jet-black comedy" "The War of the Roses" – starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as a couple whose love turns toxic – was a hit in the late 1980s.
Now, a roster of top talent has been gathered for a new version, said Tim Robey in The Telegraph. "The Roses" is directed by Jay Roach ("Meet the Parents"; "Austin Powers"); it has a biting script by Tony McNamara ("Poor Things"; "The Favourite"); and stars Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch as Ivy and Theo, a British couple living in California. He is a successful architect, she is an aspiring chef. They're happily married and have two children, but when a flashy new museum that he has designed collapses in a storm on the same night as Ivy opens a beachside café, their "career fortunes are flipped". Her crab joint becomes wildly successful, while he is publicly humiliated and sacked in disgrace. Resentment builds until their verbal sparring descends into "open combat".
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The film is further hampered by some "lame supporting roles", said Caryn James on BBC Culture. Andy Samberg is wasted as Theo's loyal friend; and Kate McKinnon is miscast as his wife, who blatantly comes on to Theo. Still, overall the film is highly watchable – a seductive "mix of droll British humour and glossy Hollywood filmmaking".
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