The Roses

Directed by Jay Roach (R)

★★

"Is it funnier? Mostly no," said in The Hollywood Reporter . But in this second screen adaptation of the 1981 novel The War of the Roses , co-stars Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch "put their own vinegary spin" on the divorce tale that Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas brought to theaters in 1989. If you admire Brits' ability to engage in withering repartee, "you couldn't ask for a more skilled demonstration."

Alas, the movie built around Colman and Cumberbatch proves "too broad and tonally erratic," said in Screen Daily . Despite the stars' chemistry, their characters, British ex-pats Ivy and Theo Rose, remain "cartoonish ciphers." She's a chef intoxicated with her newfound fame at the same time that her alpha-male husband has b

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