The War of the Roses

The War of the Roses

1989-12-08 1h 56m
Comedy Drama
6.9
User Score
1164 votes

"Once in a lifetime comes a motion picture that makes you feel like falling in love all over again. This is not that movie."

Overview

Barbara and Oliver Rose live happily as a married couple. When Barbara starts to wonder what life would be like without Oliver and likes what she sees, the two begin a campaign to force each other to leave their house, with their divorce lawyer D'Amato caught in the middle.

Danny DeVito

Director

Michael J. Leeson

Writer

Top Billed Cast

Movie Details

Status

Released

Original Language

en

Budget

$26,000,000

Revenue

$160,188,546

Runtime

1h 56m

Release Date

1989-12-08

Recommendations

Reviews

kevin2019

kevin2019

2025-05-16T00:26:01.661Z

"The War of the Roses" is an uncompromising film based upon the eternally topical subject of divorce. It fits neatly into the same category as "When Harry Met Sally..." (1989), but where that yawn fest ruminated upon the boring notion that a man can never be just good friends with an attractive woman without sex becoming an inevitable issue and getting in the way of a beautiful friendship this film ponders the notion is there any such thing as an amicable divorce? The film which results from this preponderance is a brilliantly bitter and ugly one that takes the issue to the absolute extremes of human behaviour like never before as the luxurious marital home is gradually reduced to a shadowy and dangerous battlefield. Danny DeVito excels magnificently behind the camera as director and he achieves the admirable feat of producing eye catching visuals which don't dominate or derail the entire film.