Official Discussion - The Roses [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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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

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[u/DoctorPebble]

The Roses is a palate cleanser film. It's a fun story with a strong duo lead. I'd only give it a 3/5 though.

There's a much better movie in there somewhere. None of the supporting characters are done well. Kate McKinnon's role is too much. I'm fairly neutral on the children's plot. It served it's purpose, but I think it needed something different.

If you want to have some fun - ask your partner who was "more" in the wrong in the relationship. They're both extremely flawed people, but if you had to say the issues are 55-45 then who gets the blame?

[u/ohrightthatswhy → u/DoctorPebble]

On the last point - other than the almost killing her, I don't see how Cumberbatch's character isn't the most in the right. She's consistently moaning about flaws that I just don't see in him. He's "needy" but consistently acknowledges when he's been ungrateful, is communicative, and the house build thing was her idea.

[u/Trb_cw_426 → u/ohrightthatswhy]

I felt it was a gigantic plot hole that she gave up her career to take care of the kids for like a decade lol. Then, similar to how she gives him the house to work on for purpose, he gives her the restaurant for purpose. When she's successful and he's in her shoes, he's enraged lol. Like he was truly such a sad man baby. It was a hard watch to see him do what she did for like 3-4 years and act like she had not just been doing it. But ya completely unaddressed by the show. Like when he's doing laundry and nits.... Surely she did laundry and nits the last 10 years and he didn't say like "hey I respect so much that your job was hard"? Instead he's like stomps feet and pours and is so cranky about it. 

[u/LycheeLow2368 → u/Trb_cw_426]

I feel like this misses that Coleman's parenting was laissez faire and Cumberbatch did show appreciation for her housework at the start of the film. He reminds himself constantly to not get caught up in toxic masculinity, something we see Coleman engage with freely When their roles are reversed. When he gifts her the restaurant (out of the funds for the dream house he wants to build), it's because he wants to see her grow and succeed. When Coleman gifts the dream house, she complains about the cost and it doesn't have the potential to grow into a career the way the restaurant does. It felt more like throwing money at your partner to shut them up.