The Roses (2025)

 I tend to shy away from comedies because they are usually quite unfunny (The Naked Gun is a perfect example). However I thought that the trailer looked quite good especially with Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch. Colman plays Ivy Rose who is an aspiring chef struggling to get her crabs business off the ground and Benedict Cumberbatch is Theo who is an architect and during one eventful evening their fortunes change and Theo becomes a stay at home dad and Ivy becomes the next Gordon Ramsey.

Both Cumberbatch and Colman have great chemistry. It was already well known that Colman could do funny things as she could do it in her sleep but it was a revelation that Cumberbatch could do it just as well. Adam Sandberg and Kate McKinnon pop up every so often as the couple who seem to be in a different movie. McKinnon’s Amy seems to spend every chance she gets trying to hit on Theo. Ncuti Gatwa plays Jeffrey and being a Doctor Who fan it's always fun seeing someone from Doctor Who in a film. Colman herself was in Doctor Who back in 2010 so it was fun having a double Doctor Who connection. Alison Janney pops up for about 3 minutes playing Ivy’s lawyer and it's a shame that she is in the film so little cause Janey is always good in whatever she is in.

If I had a problem with the film it's that it feels like they spent too long getting to the part where they start falling out. I think too much time was spent establishing their lives and their family because by the time they do end up with their reversed fortunes, it feels like the film is on fast forward. The film is just short of 1 hour 50 minutes and in its current form, it should have been 10-15 minutes longer. Once Ivy and Theo start to fall out and try to wreck each other’s life it becomes a lot more fun and I could have done with more of this because we only ever see the fallout from it not the build up. The final fight is possibly the best and we see them throwing knives and oranges at each other along with Ivy firing a gun and its actually a shame when they decide to stick together just as the gas is implied to set fire to the house and kill them.

Overall I enjoyed The Roses a lot more than I thought I would but this works pretty much entirely because of Cumberbatch and Colmann. If neither of them were in this then it would probably be a less successful film but as it is this film is a fun watch and one thing I haven't commented on is the director because it's directed by Jay Roach who previously directed the Austin Powers trilogy and Bombshell which I quite enjoyed and this film walks a fine line between comedy and making characters who are completely unlikable and Roach manages to pull it off although it might not work for everyone but it works for me.