The Roses

Add to the list of ‘dream houses from the movies’ the pretty spectacular, sea view bespoke build from The Roses.

It’s a stunning set to house some whipcrack sharp and wincingly awkward arguments.

Unfortunately, the rest of the film isn’t quite as well put together.

Despite its status as a remake and novel adaptation, it’s clear that the film’s had a bit of an tight edit and doesn’t quite cohere as well as it could.

The story of a married couple slowly falling apart as one’s career flourishes and the other crashes around them is a very interesting concept.

Likewise, the absolutely extreme lengths this film eventually gets to could work as a strong metaphor for some viewers.

There’s some cracking dialogue, some hard truths and some thoughtful moments and it’s shot through with some truly laugh out loud comedy.

Having a rather traditional British couple living in America only adds to some of the comedic tone.

And as much as the throughline is this exaggerated message of long separation and bitterness, it just feels a little too scattershot.

The family element really doesn’t work at all and you can almost pinpoint where the edits were made.

Likewise, whilst plot holes can always be forgiven for the ultimate goal of driving a plot forward, there’s a couple of humdingers here which make the heightened reality just tip the wrong side of uncanny (could they not have just got a nanny?!)

As disjointed as it can feel though, The Roses is still an uproarious and very funny depiction of married life that’s well worth a watch. The really tight scenes just serve to show the looseness elsewhere.

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