“I’d rather live with her than a wolf,” says Benedict Cumberbatch’s Theo in a counselling session at the very start of ‘The Roses’, when asked to say something nice about his wife, Olivia Colman’s Ivy Rose — and you’re hurled straight into the serrated brilliance of British humour.

“One, he has arms,” Ivy snaps back, and you instantly know the dry wit will keep needling you for the next hour and 45 minutes.

But, in classic British fashion, ‘The Roses’ wilts when it prepares for everything, except the spice: a narrative with actual flavour.

Another spin on Warren Adler’s 1981 novel ‘The War of the Roses’, ‘The Roses’ follows architect Theo and chef Ivy through their tumbling, fumbling marriage: two ambitious Brits plonked in scenic coastal California, marinated in sunshine and delusion.

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