Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch in 'The Roses.' Jaap Buitendijk/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Much is made in The Roses of the electricity generated between a couple by the caustic British barbs they exchange, something that comes out as blunt ridicule when a Californian friend tries it on her partner. You couldn't ask for a more skilled demonstration of how it should be done than the deliciously withering repartee lobbed back and forth by Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman as Theo and Ivy Rose, whose union spirals from bliss into mutual destruction in this dark comedy about marital collapse. The lead actors' combative chemistry is what keeps Jay Roach's overcrowded remake zingy even when it threatens to turn from savage to sour. Related Stories News Andy Samberg Recalls Seeing Tiffany Haddish and Bill Murray "Freaking Like Junior High Students" at Golden Globes Party Movies Bradley Cooper's 'Is This Thing On?' Lands December Release To be clear, Roach has described the glossy, pleasurable film as more of a reimagining than a remake, given that screenwriter Tony McNamara drew less from the beloved 1989 screen version, The War of the Roses, than from Warren Adler's source novel of the same name. The Roses The Bottom Line Tart and entertaining even if the sting is diluted. Release date: Friday, Aug. 29Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, Belinda Bromilow, Ncuti Gatwa, Sunita Mani, Zoë Chao, Jamie Demetriou, Kate McKinnonDirector: Jay RoachScreenwriter: Tony McNamara, based on the novel The War of the Roses, by Warren Adler Rated R, 1 hour 45 minutes The Roses indeed has a significantly different feel thanks to its setting, leading players and the script's injection of thorny gender dynamics when partners find their career paths on opposite trajectories. Is it funnier? Mostly no, though Cumberbatch and Colman put their own vinegary spin on McNamara's tasty dialogue, which, as anyone who has seen The Favourite, Poor Things or Hulu's The Great might guess, is laced with spectacular flights of profanity. Colman drops the C-word with incomparable aplomb. The team of Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and director/co-star Danny DeVito already had Romancing the Stone and its sequel The Jewel of the Nile under their belts when they made the 1989 movie, so there were built-in layers of tantalizing shared history to feed both the shocks and the laughs of watching Oliver and Barbara Rose, as they were named in the first adaptation, rip each other to shreds. Turner in particular was a ferocious tornado, playing an unfulfilled woman spewing out blistering contempt for her husband. Roach's film starts on that note of scorn during a hilarious session of couples therapy, in which an assigned list of 10 things Theo and Ivy like about each other reveals the poisonous extent of their mutual loathing. The funniest part of the scene is the nervous reaction of their American therapist, who throws her hands up in defeat and says their relationship cannot be saved. The Roses' amusement at that surrender gives them a brief détente, slyly skewering the British-American cultural divide while hinting at how essential their simpatico sense of humor has been to their marriage at both its best and its worst. The action rewinds to "where it all began" in London, as accomplished architect Theo extracts himself from a self-congratulatory lunch meeting to hide out in the restaurant kitchen, where Ivy is fileting salmon. Soon, they are having boisterous sex in the cool room. Ivy is planning to move to the U.S. to pursue her dream of becoming a chef, so Theo impulsively commits to go with her, and the perfectly synched rapport between Cumberbatch and Colman makes you buy it. Cut to ten years later, when they are married and living in Mendocino, California, with their two kids, Hattie (played by Delaney Quinn as a preteen and Hala Finley at 13) and Roy (Ollie Robinson and Wells Rappaport). Ivy's ambitions appear to have hit a wall so she keeps busy by creating elaborate desserts for the children. But Theo is flying high; preparations are underway for the opening of a maritime museum he designed with a sculptural rooftop sail reflecting the ship inspiration. To celebrate his success with the lucrative commission, Theo buys Ivy a modest restaurant to keep her dreams alive. But the loving couple's equilibrium hits a major bump when a freak coastal storm destroys Theo's new building before its inauguration and viral videos compound his humiliation. Overnight, he becomes unemployable. At the same time, Ivy's seafood joint, cheekily named We've Got Crabs, takes off when she gets a rave review from a food critic stranded by the storm. Handling the hiccup in a way that any smart, mutually supportiv