Rent The Roses (2025)

Till Death (or Divorce Court) Do Us Part - The Roses review by griggs

Sometimes the best thing about a film isn’t what’s on the screen but who you’re watching it with. The Roses played to a full house, and the crowd was primed—Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch had dashed in late, Colman sheepishly admitting she’d gone to the wrong cinema, before wrapping up an intro in under two minutes. 

The audience was warmed up and happy to lean into the jokes, which landed often enough to keep spirits high. The film itself is good fun: glossy, sharp in places, and for a portrait of a toxic marriage, oddly sweet-natured—more Cosmo Kramer than Kramer vs. Kramer.

If anything, Colman and Cumberbatch aren’t stretched; with their talent, they could have sleepwalked through half the scenes and you’d barely notice. That’s less a knock on them than on the material, which skates by on charm and plenty of jokes rather than depth. But as a night out, it worked.

Embarrassing - The Roses review by Alphaville

Uninspired remake in which a marriage falls apart comedically (if only). Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman act their socks off. The tell-all trailer will be enough for most people to make their minds up about it. More cringingly embarrassing than funny. Whoever thought a remake of The War of the Roses was a good idea anyway?

Ok Relationship Comedy - The Roses review by GI

With the sheen of a romcom, the comedy that is occasionally slapstick, some funny lines (but not enough) and two great lead actors this is a watchable relationship comedy that is ultimately a bit disappointing as it struggles between drunk scenes and catty one liners of hate as the couple fall apart. Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch play Ivy and Theo, the pitch perfect English couple who have moved the California, had two children and live in loving harmony. She's a talented chef with a small, unsuccessful restaurant and he's a big time architect. But on one fateful storm ridden night they have a reversal of career fortunes resulting in Ivy becoming a nationally renowned chef and Theo's career nosedives. This induces resentment in them both for various reasons and over a series of events they gradually turn to loathing for one another leading to brutal takedowns and a fight over a divorce settlement. The film ultimately loses its nerve and it's too over the top to make for a clever tragic-comedy about marriage. It's enjoyable in a surface kind of way and the two leads are having fun supported by Kate McKinnon and Adam Samberg but it's rather forgettable.