Recently, I talked about The Roses, the remake of The War of the Roses, and I thought, what the hell, might as well rewatch and talk about the 1989 original as well. This is a late 80s classic with a fantastic cast, a movie that always gets some laughs out of me, and when I reviewed The Roses, I said that it was good, but not as good as the original. In rewatching the original for the first time in a few years, I am doubling down on that statement!
Where to Watch The War of the Roses
The War of the Roses was released on December 8, 1989. You can stream the film from a digital platform such as Apple TV or Amazon Prime Video.
The War of the Roses Review: A Dark Comedy That Still Hits
The cast here is awesome! We have Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner starring opposite each other, something they had done before in Jewel of the Nile and Romancing the Stone, two fun 80s movies in their own right. They play the roles of Oliver and Barbara Rose, and they have a great supporting cast, most notably, Danny DeVito as the lawyer, Gavin and Marianne Sägebrecht as the poor Rose’s housekeeper.
Barbara and Oliver meet while they are both bidding on the same antique. This starts a passionate love affair, which is a great deal of fun to watch. Seeing the early days of their relationship, marriage, and parenthood is very, very well done. It seems like The Roses have it all and are the perfect All-American family.
A Marriage in Decline: The Film’s Turning Point
However, after many years and, Oliver becoming more and more obsessed with work. Once the kids have started to grow up. Barbara feels unfulfilled, having spent the last 18 or so years being a stay-at-home mom, trying to make the home nice and be the best parent she can. Now that the kids have grown up, she realizes that she put her entire life on hold and now has nothing.
The Divorce Battle That Made Movie History
This leads to her starting a catering business, but things get tense when Oliver has a health scare and Barbara is less than sympathetic. This leads to Barbara wanting a divorce, and it turns nasty… nasty, but hilarious for us, the audience, to watch. Oliver literally drawing a line through the house to claim parts of it as his own will never not be funny to me. The entire brawl at the end just escalates and escalates until the two of them are hanging from their expensive chandelier!
Who’s the Villain in The War of the Roses?
I have heard that some people say that the movie makes Barbara more of a villain than it does Oliver, but I do not think that is the case at all. I think this movie shows the good and bad side of both The Roses really well, and you can tell as soon as their troubles start that this is not going to end well for either of them! For me, I do not really see any of them being worse than the other, although I guess you could argue that you can tell Oliver still cares more for Barbara than she does for him. This was perhaps something the remake did a little better now that I think about it.
Why The War of the Roses Is Still Worth Watching
The War of the Roses is still a ton of fun, and while I thought the remake was pretty good, I will certainly check it out again. I have to say, this original movie holds up very well, and the chemistry between Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner is just so damn entertaining. This is a classic that everyone needs to watch, at least once. I would be interested to hear if someone younger watched the remake first and actually liked that one better, though.
