Where Danny DeVito went for extended all-out mayhem in the original The War of the Roses, Jay Roach (Meet the Fockers) and writer Tony McNamara choose a slow, churning build to the ultimate outburst of rage.
This new take on the 1981 novel by Warren Adler stars Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch. They play the couple who met by chance, married, had kids and faced challenges, and each other along the way. It might be a unsettling film to watch in other hands, but Jay Roach and writer Tony McNamara keep the balance between conflict and comedy.
The arc of the story is the slow destruction of a marriage as the career of talented, dedicated architect Theo (Cumberbatch) implodes spectacularly and sails away in front of his eyes as his bosses and big bucks investors watch in horror. What’s worse, it goes viral on social media.
At the very same time, what destroyed Theo’s masterpiece, create the opportunity for Ivy (Colman) to create life changing success as a celebrity chef. Her failing crab shack suddenly becomes the hottest food mecca when it receives a spectacular review. Theo then becomes a house husband, rearing their two great kids and the film follows the family from middle school through high school and beyond.
Ivy now has a restaurant and culinary empire while Theo still does laundry and takes care of the home, also raising and training the kids into to become elite athletes. He is a strict coach and disciplinarian while Ivy sneaks them sweets.Theo becomes a frustrated unemployed architect, while Ivy gets to bask in the accolades, travel, attention and so much more her husband is missing. Neither can empathize with what the other is going through and the sniping and biting is painful.
One problem with McNamara’s script is the even darker turn this satirical Black comedy takes interacting with their friends, who include Barry (Andy Samberg) married to Amy (Kate McKinnon). Amy comes off as an unlikable caricature of a horny suburban neighbor we might have seen her perform on SNL. She is crude, over-the-top, and just not very funny. McKinnon is a much better actor and way more capable of comedy than what she shows here. Maybe she didn’t have enough in the script to work with.
Sally (Zoë Chao) and her husband Rory (Jamie Demetriou) are a couple on the other end of the spectrum. Sally is loud, clueless and tries to be cool being vulgar towards her mate in front of everybody. She is trying to emulate how Ivy and Theo are acting toward each other in their relationship. Chao’s Sally spouts outrageously hurtful vulgar, lewd and crude verbal digs.
This is one of two scenes that really stand out. That dinner party devolves into a profanely funny war of words between Theo and Ivy. The device using dinner table conversation is well-worn, but is used well while Sally and Rory are the unwitting, clueless foils.
The other is in Allison Janney’s cameo as the (literal) attack-dog-lawyer. She and Andy Samberg pull back the curtain on the performative art of legal negotiations, to ludicrous effect. “Divorce is mostly about real estate.”
Keep your attention focused on the dialog because the fast paced jokes, jabs and well-timed repartee are almost non-stop. The undercurrent of loathing is hidden under a very English veil of quiet civility. But you have to pay attention to what Theo and Ivy are saying to understand the resentment and enmity they are lobbing at each other.
Individually, their performances are marvelous, but in their scenes together there are moments when things don’t completely gel. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine why this couple fell in love in the first place as they become so obnoxious to each other. Coleman and Cumberbatch are two of the best actors working in film today. Roach shows how love and hate can exist side by side turning sparks from red hot to explosive. We got a kick seeing The Roses go to war again.
Searchlight 1 Hour 45 Minutes R
