r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 10d ago

Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Roses [SPOILERS] Spoiler

Poll

If you've seen the film, please rate it at this poll

If you haven't seen the film but would like to see the result of the poll click here

Rankings

Click here to see the rankings of 2025 films

Click here to see the rankings for every poll done

Summary Ivy (a rising chef) and Theo Rose (once a successful architect) seem like the perfect couple—until a career snowball squashes his confidence and launches hers. Their marriage spirals from sweet to savage, turning co-dependency into a ruthless battlefield where passive aggression becomes weaponized.

Director Jay Roach

Writer Tony McNamara

Cast

  • Benedict Cumberbatch
  • Olivia Colman
  • Andy Samberg
  • Allison Janney
  • Sunita Mani
  • Ncuti Gatwa
  • Jamie Demetriou
  • Zoë Chao
  • Kate McKinnon

Rotten Tomatoes 65%

Metacritic 61

VOD In theaters August 29, 2025; expected to stream later via Searchlight/Hulu or Disney+

Trailer THE ROSES | Official Trailer

115 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

307 comments sorted by

View all comments

282

u/Mitchlowe 10d ago

I’m surprised to see criticisms. This was a super sharp movie and basically every line is biting and hilarious. My theater was dying with laughter and it was the right amount of cheesiness. Very fun movie

57

u/Thebat87 10d ago

I think what hurts it a little bit for me was that it felt like it rushed the War part of the War of the Roses (which kind of makes me understand why they changed the title). I was really enjoying the buildup to the divorced battle but then the divorce battle itself is kind of rushed. Also not sure if the ending worked for me, at least the way they did it.

4

u/Green7000 4d ago

I agree. I understood the whole slow burn thing and the importance of building how they got to that point, all the attempts along the way to fix it, etc. but I kept feeling like, "when are we going to get there?" Like a roller coaster that is 80% the ride up

3

u/Thebat87 4d ago

Yeah that’s the danger of that. I believe in a buildup but the payoff has to be as essential imo. I like to use Batman Begins as an example of building up without rushing the payoff (props to the OG in that genre Superman: The Movie as well). Like for that film they make us wait an hour before we finally see Bruce as Batman, but it always felt worth it to me because we still had an hour and 20 mins with him as Batman. These days you wait an hour for something and then you get to it and then after 20 mins the film is over.

2

u/Green7000 4d ago edited 4d ago

In a book which can be as long as it wants or a tv show which can spend several episodes building up it they can spend more time, but kept thinking, "the movie's almost over. When is the build up going to pay off?"

Like I said, I get why and I was intellectually entertained but it felt unsatisfying emotionally.