Los Roses

This movie was really funny. I loved seeing Olivia Colman become a fierce girlboss and reversing the gender norms with Benedict Cumberbatch having to be the stay at home dad. The kid actors (Ollie Robinson and Delaney Quin) did an incredible job playing American kids who grew up in the US but had the caustic wit of a Brit.

Kate McKinnon and Alison Janey are hilarious in their roles. I was just sad Alison Janey wasn't in the film more.

Overall it was fun, hilarious and a really good movie. Highly recommend you go see it.

It's a dark comedy about marriage set from 2011 to 2025, briefly in London, England, but mainly in Mendocino, California. Theo Rose (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a frustrated, idealistic architect who wants his designs to reflect their environment. He meets Ivy (Olivia Colman), who dabbles at gourmet cooking and hankers to move to America. They impulsively marry and move to California, where in ten years Theo starts a flourishing career while Ivy raises their twin children, Hattie (Hala Finney/Delaney Quinn) and Roy (Wells Rappaport/Ollie Robinson). We also meet some friends, such as Barry (Andy Samberg) and Amy (Kate McKinnon). As things are going well, Ivy starts a small seafood restaurant with Theo's support.

Suddenly, in 2021, a major disaster turns their lives upside down--Theo loses his position and takes over raising the kids, while Ivy's restaurant suddenly becomes a major success. Their relationship deteriorates amid acerbic dialogue and conflict avoidance, culminating in an explosive climax.

I like both Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman as actors, and believe they deliver excellent performances in "The Roses," as the script features clever, edgy repartee between their characters, and their chemistry is outstanding. However, the secondary characters don't work as well. The Barry and Amy characters are memorable, but most others are not. The Allison Janney character has her best lines in the trailer.

The Roses is a remake of the 1989's movie and book, The War of the Roses. I never read the book or watched the movie so I had no expectations walking into this movie. The Roses is about the slow descent of a marriage between a successful architect and a successful cook. This movie is really held together because of the lead couple played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman. They have great chemistry and snark so I enjoyed every scene they are in together. The story is also good where you can see how their marriage slowly crumbles and it is slow. It is not like a lot of romantic comedies where it happens fast, there is a lot of small pieces that pile up for the eventual blow out. The actual divorce blow up doesn't happen until the third act so some viewers may be disappointed if they saw the trailers. For me, I like the slow progression. That being said probably the weakest elements are the supporting cast. Andy Samberg & Kate McKinnon are two of the more well known actors that play friends of the Roses and a lot of their jokes miss. All the friends are not funny or just rude and you never understood why they were friends with any of them in the first place. The children also are pretty forgettable. I did enjoy the movie overall but that is only because of how strong the leads are. You can definitely wait to see this at home.

POSITIVES:

1) Colman and Cumberbatch are both sensational in the lead roles. Their performances are both brilliant and they have fantastic chemistry with each other. They really get to flex their acting muscles too, bring great during both emotional scenes and comedic scenes.

2) The film is VERY funny. People were laughing hysterically in the screening I was in and I found this to be the funniest film I've seen in quite some time. It's a very British sense of humour which is perfect for me and I loved how graphic the swearing and the jokes were.

NEGATIVES:

1) Outside of Colman and Cumberbatch, none of the other performances stood out well to me at all. I actually found Samberg and McKinnon to be quite bad and annoying whenever they were on screen.

2) The film is just ultimately too absurd for me, especially by the end. I think something slightly more grounded would've been better and wouldn't have taken away from the story or the humour at all. It's outrageous some of the things that occur without apparently any police getting involved?? Also, the film's whole crux stems from both characters wanting to be career people rather than stay home with the kids, so why on earth do neither of them suggest just hiring a nanny?! They're clearly rich enough to do so and it's such a simple solution that I couldn't get out of my head the whole time?!

I don't know that I've ever seen a genuinely funny, adult movie with comedy that felt equally British and American.

I laughed. Out loud. In the theater.

It was a little raunchy at times but it didn't rely on raunchiness, which was refreshing. There were real heartbreaking, award-caliber moments between a couple that had lost their way, but it was still CLEARLY a comedy.

I was expecting more of a climax after all the buildup but I appreciate the ending.

I also wish Allison Janney had a bigger part, just because I really like her.

Kate McKinnon did everything right and she needs to be in more movies like this that can accommodate her style of comedy.

But the drivers were 2 brilliant actors, Colman and Cumberbatch, whose supporting cast members had just the right amount of screen time so that we had other interests, but the story remained on them. Both did a very good job of portraying how 2 deeply flawed people over 40 navigate a rocky marriage...actually "rocky" may be underselling it a bit based solely on the last 20ish minutes. You decide.

Imagine this movie as the next step for Olivia Colman's character after The Bear and it becomes even more entertaining.