The War of the Roses
1989 Directed by Danny DeVito
Synopsis
Once in a lifetime comes a motion picture that makes you feel like falling in love all over again. This is not that movie.
The Roses, Barbara and Oliver, live happily as a married couple. Then she starts to wonder what life would be like without Oliver, and likes what she sees. Both want to stay in the house, and so they begin a campaign to force each other to leave. In the middle of the fighting is D'Amato, the divorce lawyer. He gets to see how far both will go to get rid of the other, and boy do they go far.
Studio
Popular reviews
More-
83/100
[from a discussion on the Movie Nerd Discussion Group, 13 Jun 2005; ostensible topic is Mr. & Mrs. Smith but I spent much more time praising this film]
> Comparisons to Prizzi's Honor and War of the Roses have
> been bandied about quite often—most cogently by Miles,
> whose work at Nerve and especially Esquire has been
> intimidatingly first-rate [...]You're too kind, sir. Unfortunately, I seem to have intimidated my editors at Esquire into cutting my column in half, starting with the September issue. (As is so often the case in this business, this reduction in word count was accompanied by a hefty raise in salary.) One page is apparently all the attention our readers can muster for any article not…
-
One of my favorite dark comedies. To me it was the DePalma comedy he always wanted to make but we got BONEFIRE instead. The commentary by Devito is excellent t hilariously dated....I think his perspective on directing and the nature of the movie business has changed JUSSST a bit since Laserdiscs.
-
puts the black in 'black comedy'
Recent reviews
More-
This is a mean, nasty film that didn't make me laugh. What it did make me desperately want to do is move as far away from any other person as I could.
-
Utterly hilarious, but vicious and biting.
-
A rom-com goes wrong when Micheal Douglas and Kathleen Turner realize just how much they didn't love watch other. Weak humor and lack of in depth characters hurt the movie, but I can't say that the movie didn't entertain me, or that Danny DeVito did a bad job directing. I just wish the movie don't feel like three hours.
-
83/100
[from a discussion on the Movie Nerd Discussion Group, 13 Jun 2005; ostensible topic is Mr. & Mrs. Smith but I spent much more time praising this film]
> Comparisons to Prizzi's Honor and War of the Roses have
> been bandied about quite often—most cogently by Miles,
> whose work at Nerve and especially Esquire has been
> intimidatingly first-rate [...]You're too kind, sir. Unfortunately, I seem to have intimidated my editors at Esquire into cutting my column in half, starting with the September issue. (As is so often the case in this business, this reduction in word count was accompanied by a hefty raise in salary.) One page is apparently all the attention our readers can muster for any article not…
-
Highly enjoyable.
-
A memorable film for so many reasons: Michael Leeson's pitch black screenplay, one of Michael Douglas's bravest, most selfless performances, the occasionally eccentric cinematography, and most of all, its no-holds-barred indictment of 1980s bourgeois capitalism. It's a pity though that the film is also about 10-15 minutes too long.
-
This movie is still one of my favorites. Nice and simple narrative played out by bunch of great actors. It has some pretty damn funny moments, like when they the divide the house into sections.
Decent 80s comedy about love and divorce, but maybe a tad too dark for some. A plus though: 80s Michael Douglas was a total babe.
-
Don't ever get married! Douglas and Turner have great chemistry...er... for hating each other!
-
It is uncommon to see a film juggle more than one type of comedy. What's magnificent about The War of the Roses is how choice its use of lowbrow, highbrow, slapstick and situational humor are - and how well it maintains all four while also maintaining its own tone. Of course I object to Kathleen Turner, yet again, being miscast as a sexpot. Finding something sexy is truly a subjective decision. She didn't work (for me) as the primed sex object in Body Heat. She doesn't work as a temptress here. But it's not important. The sexuality, even the femininity of her role is dulled. She is one half of a marriage and her job is to stand her ground,…