The Roses Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

The Roses Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 23, 2025

At the time of the release of The War of the Roses in 1989, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner were kind of a cinematic "It Couple", having already brought liberal doses of amorous bantering back into style with both Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, both of which connected pretty solidly with ticket buying audiences. While separated by a few years from those two films, The War of the Roses might be jokingly described as having taken "bantering" to a whole new level as Douglas and Turner portrayed an increasingly vicious married couple whose attachment(s) to their luxe mansion in the throes of a supposed divorce lead to utter catastrophe for both of them. The War of the Roses was intentionally dark, but it was often very funny, with almost Grand Guignol level mayhem erupting in the tony enclaves of Washington, D.C. and New England. The film may have resonated especially strongly with long married couples who, if they haven't become sufficiently "Stockholm Syndromed" with each other, may be harboring fantasies of dealing with their spouse the way the Roses do in that film. And so, enter The Roses.

The first salient question may be (of course), why? What was hoped to be achieved with this "modern" take on the source material that the first film didn't offer? The answer might be something as simple as a deconstruction of perceived "gender roles", since arguably the crux of this film's marriage problems may be that Ivy (Olivia Colman) ends up being significantly more successful than Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch). That may or may not be enough to sustain this reformulation, one which undeniably has a number of laughs and some suitably snarky writing, but which tends to stumble at times, especially with some of the decisions made to "flesh out" the supporting cast which lead to some pretty jarring tonal variations.

Here, for no discernable reason other than the nationality of the two stars, Theo and Ivy are British expats who end up living in Southern California. This version spends some time documenting their "meet cute" in a London restaurant where Theo's architectural firm is having a confab and Ivy is a chef. Suffice it to say it's more or less love (or at least lust) at first sight, and soon enough the couple has hopped "the pond", married and had kids. In what might be referred to as a, well, Reversal of Fortune, Theo's architectural career tanks while Ivy's chef career skyrockets. Later, in one of several fitful attempts to stabilize an obviously troubled relationship, Theo has designed and built Ivy her dream home on a bluff overlooking the Pacific, and once the marriage starts unraveling, the house becomes an obsessive "must have" for both characters.

While already obviously offering some substantial differences from both the source novel and first film adaptation, at least so far the broadest outlines of the tale are still more or less intact. Where The Roses may go at least a little haywire is with regard to the overstuffed sidebars this version tries to work into the proceedings. Most problematic are the main "sidekicks" this remake offers, Barry (Andy Samberg) and his wife Amy (Kate McKinnon). Barry is more or less a revamped version of the divorce lawyer memorably essayed by Danny DeVito, who of course directed the first version. DeVito's Gavin D'Amato was in fact the de facto narrator and "perspective giver" of the original, something this film's Barry just patently isn't. In fact, the scenes with Barry and (sadly, especially) Amy often just halt the film's forward movement in its veritable tracks, and McKinnon's weird persona in particular just seems patently at odds with the rest of the film. Even Barry's connection to the story is altered here from how Gavin interacted in the original, as Alison Janney is then introduced as a "new, improved" divorce lawyer for Ivy who kicks things into high gear.

The film may offer a bit less overt "unhappily ever after" denouement than the first film, though actually this version's slightly more ambiguous wrap up may be its best (somewhat subtle) joke. Cumberbatch and Colman are fine and often quite disturbing throughout, but this probably needless remake just never quite captures the manic intensity of the original.

The Roses Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Roses is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Disney / Buena Vista and 20th Century Studios' Searchlight with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. As of the writing of this review the IMDb doesn't offer any real technical information, but a cursory internet search indicates the Arri Alexa 35 was used and there was reportedly a 4K DI (the internet suggests that digital copies may be in 4K, though I haven't confirmed that). The result is a very appealing looking presentation, with secure detail levels throughout, with the possible exception of some of the green (actually blue) screened background material to represent the ocean outside of the Roses' cliffside manse. Fine detail on costumes is especially nice looking throughout, with almost palpable renderings of fabric textures. The incredible production design of the Roses' home is also impressively detailed a lot of the time. The palette is natural looking throughout.

The Roses Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Roses features a workmanlike DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that frankly may not offer any real "wow" moments, but which still provides consistent engagement of the side and rear channels for both ambient environmental effects (there's quite a bit of outdoor material in this version), as well as the source cue filled soundtrack. While this film offers a somewhat cheeky version of The Turtles' immortal Happy Together by Susanna Hoffs and Rufus Wainwright as its opening and closing theme, I kind of was hoping for some version of Sonny and Cher's I Got You Babe as an ironic counterpoint, which never happened. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

The Roses Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A House to Fight For (HD; 6:55) has an interesting look at production design.


• Bloopers (HD; 1:55)


• The Roses: An Inside Look (HD; 2:33) is basically a trailer masquerading as an EPK.


• Comedy Gold (HD; 1:46) is almost more blooper material.

A digital copy is included. Packaging features a slipcover, though the copy sent to me had a slipcover that looked like it had been sliced and diced by one of Ivy's oversized knives for some reason.

The Roses Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm a big fan of the original War of the Roses, which may have colored my reaction to this "update". The central performances by Cumberbatch and Colman are quite compelling, but funny and disturbing in about equal measure, but this film is arguably way overstuffed with extraneous and unfortunately not always very funny material. Technical merits are solid, and with caveats noted, The Roses comes Recommended.