The original The War of the Roses starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas was one of the biggest films of 1989, so I was definitely looking forward to seeing Olivia Colman (who I love) and Benedict Cumberbatch (who I do not care about at all) in this remake. Thankfully, I was not disappointed!
Pros:
An age appropriate lead couple!
A movie automatically gets bonus points from me if the lead actress is less than five years younger than the male lead, and Olivia Colman is two years older! We’re off to a great start.
A charming, handsome Cumberbatch?
I, personally, think that man looks like he snuck on Earth through the back way. I don’t know if he got work done or if I’ve underestimated his acting skills, but the guy who showed up in The Roses is charming, fuckable, and marriable.
A kooky cast of side characters.
The original film feels a little bit boxed in because it focuses so heavily on the couple and the divorce lawyer. We get an entire cast of characters in the remake and you get to see how they’re affected by this imploding relationship.
A gender-swapping of character traits.
The father is the resentful stay-at-home parent while the mother is the workaholic narcissist. Very refreshing!
Olivia is outstanding.
Mother is at her comedic best and I would have gladly watched another two hours of her just running her restaurant and telling fine-ass Ncuti what a slut he is.
(Also would have appreciated scenes of Ncuti being a slut. Has he always been this hot?? Where have I been?)
Cons:
The tone doesn’t always work.
The original leans into the dark side of “black comedy” whereas the remake is a bit silly in the first two acts to the point where the third act almost feels jarringly out of place. You know it’s coming, but it’s still hard to watch.
Just HIRE someone! (Mild spoiler)…..
Many marriages have been saved by or at least greatly benefitted from outsourcing the childcare. If nobody wants to be at home with the kids, hire somebody to be at home with the kids! This is a huge change from the original that feels like nonsense. Why did they write the au pair out of the script??
Marriage is hard…I assume…because all of my 3-month situationships have been hard so I can only imagine how hard 360 months is. But with the right person they can also be so much FUN! And even though you ultimately should not try to murder your partner, sometimes a little bullethole is the only way you can express the magnitude of your feelings.
I think. Therapy didn’t work for me any better than it did for them.
Score: 4 / 5
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