The War of the Roses (1989)

Directed by

Danny DeVito

Genre

drama film, comedy film, comedy drama

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 56m

Rated

R

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 1,262 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A wealthy married couple turns their divorce into a destructive battle over material possessions. Their once perfect marriage unravels into bitter and outrageous conflict.

bleakdarkly comictensesatiricalescalatinguncomfortablecynicalslow-burn

What happens

The War of the Roses is a 1989 American satirical black comedy film based on the 1981 novel by Warren Adler. The film follows Oliver and Barbara Rose, a wealthy couple with a seemingly perfect marriage that begins to fall apart, as material possessions become the center of an outrageous and bitter divorce battle. The film co-stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito. The three actors had previously worked together in Romancing the Stone and its sequel The Jewel of the Nile. DeVito directed the film, which also had producer James L. Brooks and actor Dan Castellaneta working on a project outside of The Simpsons. The opening title sequence was created by Saul Bass and Elaine Makatura Bass. In both the novel and the film, the married couple's family name is Rose, and the title is an allusion to the battles between the warring houses of York and Lancaster who were contending for the English throne during the late Middle Ages. In Germany, the film was such a huge success that its German title Der Rosenkrieg became synonymous with high-conflict divorce and is now regularly used in the media. The War of the Roses was released by 20th Century Fox on December 8, 1989. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed $160 million against a $26 million budget. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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