The Roses brings together Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch in a modern retelling of a marriage falling apart. Directed by Jay Roach, the film begins with charm and humor but slowly turns into a story of exhaustion and resentment. It tries to blend love, anger, and comedy, yet the balance never fully works. The emotions feel real, but the film itself feels uneven.
Colman and Cumberbatch are, without doubt, the film’s strength. Colman brings warmth and humanity even in the ugliest fights, while Cumberbatch plays the self-centered husband with the right mix of control and vulnerability. Together, they make their scenes painful but believable. Without them, the film wouldn’t hold together.
The supporting cast, however, adds very little. Kate McKinnon, Andy Samberg, Ncuti Gatwa, Sunita Mani, and Zoë Chao are all talented actors, but they’re barely used. McKinnon and Samberg bring short bursts of energy, yet their humor feels misplaced in a film that doesn’t know how funny it wants to be. Gatwa, Mani, and Chao each appear in small roles that seem written just to fill the background. It’s surprising how such a strong ensemble can have so little impact.
The film looks and sounds beautiful. After a while, the fights and silences repeat, losing their emotional punch.
By the end, The Roses feels like a film built around two great performances and not much else. Colman and Cumberbatch do everything they can, but the script gives the rest of the cast nothing to work with. It’s well made, beautifully acted, and full of talent but too heavy to enjoy and too safe to remember.