Film Information
Title: The Roses
Director: Jay Roach
Writer: Tony McNamara
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman
Year: 2025
Genre: Dark Comedy / Relationship Drama
Country: United Kingdom / USA
From the very first second, The Roses makes you laugh. The opening credits are so stylish and rhythmically edited that they instantly set the tone: this is going to be sharp, self-aware comedy. The film doesn’t pretend to tell a new story; it takes an old theme – a successful couple slowly losing balance – and refreshes it through dialogue so smart it almost sparkles. Jay Roach’s direction and Tony McNamara’s script feel like a duet; every line lands with timing, and every cut feels like the punchline of a joke that knows it’s a little cruel.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman as Theo and Ivy are the soul of the movie. Their chemistry is effortless, full of warmth and irritation at once. They are funny even when they’re angry, charming even when they’re wrong. The best scenes are built entirely on conversation; a perfect storm of wit and passive-aggressive affection. You laugh, and then realize the laughter hides something uncomfortably real. The film’s dialogue shows genius in how it balances humor and emotional fragility: it never forces the comedy, it just flows like the way couples fight; with love, sarcasm, and exhaustion in equal measure.
The first half of The Roses is pure delight. The rhythm is quick, the cinematography vivid, and the editing lively. There’s an energy that feels contagious, as if the film itself is dancing. Watching it with a partner makes it even better; every joke lands twice, once on screen and once as a knowing glance between you two.
But halfway through, the energy begins to fade. The second act loses some of the sparkle that made the beginning so exhilarating. The narrative starts to repeat its own rhythms, and instead of deepening the conflict, it simplifies it. By the time the film reaches its ending, you can feel that it has chosen comfort over complexity. The resolution is tidy, maybe too tidy for a story that began with so much chaotic brilliance. It doesn’t ruin the experience, but it flattens it.
Still, it’s impossible not to enjoy the journey. The Roses remains a perfectly enjoyable film, especially for couples who like their humor served with a pinch of emotional truth. The movie never becomes cynical; even when the love story cracks, the tenderness never disappears. Cumberbatch’s anxious elegance and Colman’s emotional sharpness turn every quarrel into performance art.
Watching The Roses is like attending a beautiful party that ends a bit too soon. You laugh, you admire the cleverness, and when the lights come up, you wish it had risked one more emotional step. But maybe that’s the charm of it; it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
In the end, The Roses is a film about love’s absurdity, about the comedy that hides in every fight and the fights that hide in every joke. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s irresistibly human. And for couples looking for a movie that lets them laugh at themselves for two hours, it’s almost perfect.
