Reveling in the misery of others — schadenfreude, as the Germans call it — may seem cruel, but when the unhappiness is the result of ill-advised or dysfunctional romantic couplings and it generates smart comedy, the ends justify the meanness. If the humor deftly skewers human foibles, as is the case with two current rom-coms willing to push the genre to extremes, it’s all the better. Not that there are new lessons to learn from The Roses and Splitsville. Yes, relationships are hard, love is an enigma, sexual attraction sometimes devolves into compulsion, and marriage can be a blessing, a trap, or a compromise. The spin is the thing, and the execution is dizzying in both The Roses and Splitsville. Texts and subtexts aside, the laughs are plentiful, too.
‘The Roses’
One of the bleakest satirical comedies in Hollywood history is 1989’s War of the Roses, based on Warren Adler’s novel about an initially happy marriage gone bad — very, very bad. It notably starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, who had previously teamed up for the popular adventure comedy Romancing the Stone, and was directed with panache and, one would assume by his supporting turn in the film, mischievous glee by Danny DeVito. Now, there’s a new movie inspired by War of the Roses, simply titled The Roses this time out. As one would hope considering its origins, it’s a frequently funny look at a marriage falling apart.
There are changes from the book and the first screen adaptation, such as the husband and wife in The Roses being British and ending up in that Northern California bastion of new-age spirituality, Mendocino, where they have a cozy, relatively successful life together. Theo, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, is an architect whose career-defining project is an audacious museum design that’s being constructed by the sea; Ivy, played by Olivia Colman, is a gourmet chef with a struggling seafood restaurant; and they’re raising two tweens — a boy and a girl. The occasional minor challenge aside, life seems pretty sweet. Then, a series of incidents radically reverse the couple’s vocational fortunes, resentment builds, and the sniping begins and intensifies with the kids caught in the middle as prospective pawns and bartering chips.
The Roses is directed by Jay Roach, whose work on the box-office hit Meet the Parents is indicative of his facility with what could be called domestic comedy of discomfort. As for the script, The Roses was adapted and polished to a slick shine by Tony McNamara who wrote the screenplay for the devilishly clever, bitingly droll Poor Things, which earned him a 2024 Academy Award nomination. One of the great strengths of The Roses is McNamara’s wonderfully acerbic dialogue delivered by the accomplished Cumberbatch and Colman — both known for their dramatic chops, although just as adept at comedy. Cumberbatch taught a master class in wry and cutting ripostes as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes in the BBC’s Sherlock series. Colman — for all her serious roles, an Oscar win for The Favourite, and an Emmy victory for The Crown — was connected to the legendary Cambridge Footlights comedy troupe at the esteemed university and had her professional breakthrough on the absolutely brilliant U.K. sitcom Peep Show.
Speaking of comedy institutions, Saturday Night Live alumni Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon play the Roses’ best friends, a slacker lawyer and his sexually liberated partner. Talk about strange bedfellows, Samberg and McKinnon appearing in the same movie as Cumberbatch and Colman doesn’t seem like it was on anyone’s casting bingo card, but the mixture pops and fizzes. The peripatetic, versatile Allison Janney (another Oscar and Emmy winner) and Ncuti Gatwa (recent star of TV’s Doctor Who) make good use of their limited screen time as two of Ivy’s confederates. Such a cast, crew, and source material suggest a lofty pedigree, and The Roses takes advantage of it. For those who derive pleasure from rapid-fire banter and creative putdowns, this is a deliciously nasty box of bonbons and bon mots that’s ultimately a wee softer than the 1989 version. It’s also a cautionary tale about the ephemeral nature of wedded bliss — in other words, not the ideal date-night fare if you want to avoid awkward conversations with your significant other.
The Roses is currently in theaters.
‘Splitsville’
Coming from the filmmaking duo of Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin who did the painfully humorous 2019 comedy The Climb, Splitsville is even funnier and a little more twisted in its jaundiced look at the competitive-to-toxic relationship between two men who have known one another for a while — maybe for too long. As was the case with The Climb, Splitsville has Covino directing a script he cowrote with Marvin, and they costar as the male leads. But they’ve taken a step up on the casting front since they’re paired with actresses who are bigger names than Covino and Martin: Dakota Johnson (Materialists, Daddio) and Adria Arjona (Hit Man).
In Splitsville, an increasingly tangled web is woven when Ashley, played by Arjona, expresses dissatisfaction with her marriage to easy-going Carey, played by Marvin, and she requests a divorce. So Carey, seeking solace, turns to his smug longtime pal Paul (Covino in unctuous mode) and Paul’s winsome wife Julie (Johnson in adorable mode). Staying with Paul and Julie at their waterfront home, Carey finds out that they’re in an open marriage and decides to try his luck with Julie while Paul is away at work. Riotous conflict is assured, and genuine hilarity is a welcome consequence. Carey’s unexpected reaction to Ashley’s parade of lovers is a particular hoot.
Covino and Marvin aren’t at the rarefied level of a Hope and Crosby or Martin and Lewis. Still, they have the chemistry of a veteran show-biz team and are as adept at scathing repartee as they are at slapstick. That’s right. There’s a major dose of slapstick in the middle of the sexual gamesmanship. It comes in the form of a knockabout brawl between Paul and Carey that’s almost jaw-dropping in its physicality, which includes the wanton destruction of furniture. By the way, Johnson and Arjona give as good as they get on the comedic front as they interact with the guys. Splitsville has plenty to say about romance, desire, loyalty, companionship, the perils and benefits of monogamy, and the adage that the grass always seems lusher in your neighbor’s yard. Its blend of wit, silliness, and hard-won wisdom about how men and women connect and disconnect is both memorable and stimulating.
Splitsville is currently in theaters.
