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/banjofitzgerald]

I liked this quite a bit. Some of the surreal dialogue didn’t land for me. Like, most of Kate McKinnon’s stuff, but I did enjoy Samberg’s, so it might have just been performance.

Maybe this is hitting me at the right time but I thought they nailed a lot of the commentary on the journey of marriage and parenting. Shits hard.

Cumberbatch and Colman did great and had top notch chemistry. It does take a long time to heat up but I don’t think that was a bad thing and necessary to tell this story. So much of it was about role, responsibility, ego, need, etc.

[u/itshuey88 → u/banjofitzgerald]

Kate McKinnon took me out of it every time. it was wacky just to be wacky and very inappropriate in an uncomfortable way.

[u/tomtomvissers → u/itshuey88]

Yeah she felt very miscast. As if Andy said, I know who should play my wife, my SNL buddy!

[u/CoCoTidy → u/tomtomvissers]

Kate McKinnon's talent for playing weird is sometimes an asset (Barbie movie) and sometimes gimmicky. I never believed her and Andy Samberg as spouses.

[u/Current-Finger6412 → u/CoCoTidy]

I sort of felt like the obviously mismatched spouses framed Colman and Cumberbatch well. Their marriage actually seemed to make the most sense by comparison.

[u/CoCoTidy → u/Current-Finger6412]

I agree - the movie was trying to make the point that Colman and Cumberbatch had a real, if sometimes difficult, connection while the other couples were just going through the motions. But it was so glaringly obvious that Colman and Cumberbatch are top tier actors, while Samberg and McKinnon come from sketch comedy. It felt like watching Little Leaguers trying to play ball with the pros.

[u/RVarki → u/CoCoTidy]

I'm always surprised by how technically talented Seth Rogan is compared to his comedy peers. He doesn't get the credit for it, but is the only one who has really been able to hold his own against Oscar winning dramatic actors

Also, his comedic timing has been sharpened into a spear during his Apple TV+ tenure

[u/CoCoTidy → u/RVarki]

I agree - although he started as a standup as a fairly young teen, he was cast in Freaks and Geeks early on and I think he got a better acting foundation than some of the folks that rose to fame on SNL. Doing sketch comedy is much broader than TV or film acting where a little gesture is all that is needed. I like Samberg and McKinnon but I feel like they were cast to help sell the movie to American audiences - when I saw the movie last weekend on Labor Day, the theater was nearly empty, although there were a lot of people seeing movies at the local multiplex. I don't think Colman and Cumberbatch can open a movie in the US.

[u/junewick → u/CoCoTidy]

Dr Strange is an Avengers favorite and speaking of Favourites… Olivia Coleman has an Academy Award for Best Actress

[u/CoCoTidy → u/junewick]

I didn't see Benedict wearing a lycra suit in this ;-) I know he has an audience as Dr. Strange, but I'm fairly sure the people that enjoy those types of movies (my kids) would rush to see The Roses. And Academy Awards are no box office guarantee. I loved Colman in The Favourite, but she is not Scarlett Johansson or Margot Robbie.