Life seems easy for this picture-perfect couple: successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing. As one partner’s career nosedives while the other’s ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites. A film by Jay Roach, starring Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, Belinda Bromilow, Ncuti Gatwa, Sunita Mani, Zoë Chao, Jamie Demetriou, Delaney Quinn, Ollie Robinson, Hala Finley, Wells Rappaport, and Kate McKinnon.
THE ROSES
Jay Roach
(2025)
In London, Theo’s boss Darren is celebrating with colleagues at a restaurant, toasting their latest building project. (Why they brought the architectural model along is puzzling, perhaps for comedic effect?) Theo Rose (Benedict Cumberbatch) sits there looking frustrated, mumbling to himself. When Darren notices and asks what he said, Theo replies sarcastically that he just remembered how they were forced to cut the cascading garden balconies from the design. He believes this denies the 700 people who’ll live in those featureless boxes any chance to enjoy fresh air or see the horizon. When Darren points out that architects sometimes have to compromise for the market, Theo gets upset and leaves the table to cool off.
Finding a place to hide, Theo accidentally pushes open the kitchen door and meets Ivy (Olivia Colman). He’s immediately impressed by her quick wit and dark sense of humor. When Ivy offers him a taste of her trout carpaccio with dehydrated blackberry and anchovy, Theo is blown away by the flavors. Ivy reveals she created the dish, but the head chef won’t let her put it on the menu.
The two quickly hit it off. Ivy shares that she’s moving to America next week to pursue her dream of becoming a chef. Theo thinks about quitting his soul-crushing job. Half-jokingly, he tells her maybe he should go with her.
Ten years later, Theo and Ivy are married and living in Mendocino, California with their two children, Roy (Ollie Robinson) and Hattie (Delaney Quinn). After the kids were born, Ivy set aside her dream of becoming a chef to raise them at home while Theo works as an architect supporting the family. His current project, the East Bay Maritime Museum, could make him famous and establish his legacy in architecture. When his boss suggests cutting the sail from his design, citing safety concerns, Theo stands his ground. The sail represents the ship, he insists, and must stay on the building despite the added construction costs.
One day, Theo surprises Ivy by buying an abandoned restaurant so she can pursue her dream of being a chef, recognizing how she put her career aside to raise their family. After renovations, Ivy opens “We’ve Got Crabs!” and hires two employees, Jeffrey (Ncuti Gatwa) and Jane (Sunita Mani). But she treats the restaurant more like a hobby than a business, opening just a couple days a week and closing whenever something else comes up, like her daughter’s soccer game. She gets barely any customers and even accepts discount coupons from other shops.
Later, a massive storm hits the city while Theo and his friend Barry (Andy Samberg) are having drinks at a café across from the museum Theo designed. As the rain and wind grow fiercer, the sail begins to buckle under the pressure and finally snaps in half. Theo watches in horror while he and Barry frantically try to stop bystanders from filming. The pole crashes down onto the ship below, which collapses into the building and destroys the entire museum.
Meanwhile, people are flooding into Ivy’s restaurant to find shelter and wait out the storm as major freeways shut down due to high winds and torrential rain. Ivy panics when she recognizes Sylvia Richardson (Caroline Partridge), the San Francisco Chronicle food critic, among the crowd.
The next morning, Ivy wakes up to find a rave review of her restaurant on the San Francisco Chronicle website. Theo is still in shock from the disaster and discovers he’s become an internet meme after a video of him standing in front of the collapsing museum went viral.
Later that day, Theo gets a call from his boss Dave Johnson informing him that he’s fired. Johnson reminds him that he warned Theo the sail on the top of the building was dangerous. Now the engineers are blaming Theo for the disaster. Luckily no one was hurt, but Theo will be held responsible.
Realizing his reputation is ruined and no one will hire him anytime soon, and with Ivy’s restaurant suddenly so popular she can now open every day, Ivy suggests Theo take some time off to look after the kids. The restaurant will make enough money to pay the bills for a while. Theo agrees.
The restaurant’s website crashes from the overwhelming demand, and they’re fully booked for the next two months. Ivy’s career skyrockets. She’s invited to do a photoshoot for New York Magazine and flies to LA on a private jet with celebrity chef and restaurateur David Chang to have dinner with Nancy Silverton.
Theo grows jealous of Ivy’s success, believing he should be the one in the limelight providing for the family. When he suggests they switch back to their old arrangement, Ivy refuses to give up what she’s built. Since Theo won’t be able to land big clients and will probably have to start from scratch, Ivy has another idea. She convinces him to design and build their dream house on a piece of land she’s acquired, funded by the money she’ll make partnering with an equity investor to open more restaurants. This way, she argues, Theo won’t have to work some shitty job to rebuild his reputation. He can prove to the world he’s an architectural genius.
Directed by American filmmaker Jay Roach and written by Tony McNamara, THE ROSES aims for dark comedy but struggles to keep its energy going throughout. The story is a reimagining of Warren Adler’s 1981 novel The War of the Roses.
The War of the Roses is a darkly satirical story about the savage, escalating battle between a married couple whose idyllic life crumbles into brutal domestic warfare. The novel is known for its harsh satire, unflinching portrayal of mutual spite, and complete lack of sentimentality. Love and family don’t matter. Only the desire to own counts. There’s no reconciliation, no redemption, just destruction.
The film looks stunning. Every scene is beautifully shot, the production design is incredible, and the CGI feels believable. Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch give lovely performances as the married couple, and their children are well cast. The ensemble delivers solid work throughout, particularly Ncuti Gatwa, Andy Samberg, and Kate McKinnon.
Surprisingly, Samberg’s performance is more nuanced and subtle than I expected. McKinnon, though, leans too heavily into her quirky energy. Given the story’s tone, it somewhat comes across as obnoxious. It feels like the filmmaker and screenwriter were afraid to take viewers to a truly dark place.
Overall, the film doesn’t really introduce anything new. It’s a lovely film that’s not bad, but not particularly memorable either. Some moments feel illogical and unrealistic, like when Theo grates a wart from his toe into Ivy’s food and spikes it with hallucinogenic mushrooms. It’s not only disgusting, but he’s willing to put innocent people’s lives at risk.
The film lacks that special spark that would make me want to rewatch it. The jokes don’t always land, though I found the psychiatrist scene quite hilarious. It’s a 2.5/5 stars for the story, but I give an additional half star because I like Andy Samberg in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
THE ROSES was theatrically released in the United States on 29 August 2025.
