In a canny casting move surely meant to draw in unsuspecting nostalgic viewers, Romancing the Stone<\/em> stars Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner reunite as the titular couple, Oliver and Barbara Rose. It\u2019s not quite right to say it\u2019s their story, though. Instead they\u2019re the subjects of a speech delivered by divorce lawyer Gavin D\u2019Amato (DeVito himself) to a potential client. It\u2019s a lesson of sorts, or maybe a warning. There will be no winning here, Gavin proclaims, only \u201cdegrees of losing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The union seems happy, or at least passionate, for a time. Their meeting has all the makings of a classic rom-com but the groundwork for their later battles is already being laid: at a Nantucket auction, they get into a bidding war over the same lot. Barbara prevails, for now. That initial tension remains present throughout their marriage, even in the ostensibly joyful moments. As Gavin moves swiftly past their early struggles \u2013 when Oliver is suffering through law school while Barbara raises their twins \u2013 and into the flush years once Oliver makes partner and they\u2019re able to buy an opulent home, the resentments pile up with such efficiency that a blow-up begins to seem not just inevitable but imperative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Petty cruelties \u2013 Barbara sniping about Oliver\u2019s phoniness after a company event; Oliver needling Barbara about spending \u201chis\u201d money \u2013 escalate into outright hostility after Oliver has a health scare. In bed that night, Barbara reveals that she imagined his death and the idea made her happy. She asks for a divorce and though he\u2019s reluctant to give it, proceedings begin. True to its Reagan-era time period, the locus of their arguments is the ultimate symbol of American prosperity: the house. Both believe they\u2019re owed it: Oliver because he paid for it, Barbara because she furnished it and raised their children there. On Gavin\u2019s advice, Oliver finds a legal loophole that allows them both to stay in the residence until they settle. And so, the combat truly begins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What sets The War of the Roses<\/em> apart from other films of its ilk is the depth of its conviction, and how far it\u2019s willing to go. The physicality that once marked the Roses\u2019 lovemaking is now brutally wielded against one another, and the natural spark between Douglas and Turner becomes weaponized against the audience. Destruction of property (\u201cnot the Staffordshires\u201d whines Oliver) leads to dinner party sabotage leads to a gnarly groin injury. Even the house pets aren\u2019t safe from their wrath. Also caught in the crossfire are their embittered children, about to go off to college, and a sweet live-in maid. Once these figures disappear, there\u2019s nothing standing in the way of the Roses following their hateful feud to its macabre end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another aspect that sets Roses <\/em>apart is the stylistic verve of DeVito\u2019s direction. It wasn\u2019t his first foray into the field \u2013 that was The Ratings Game<\/em> five years before. But there\u2019s a sense that, like the central couple, DeVito is going for broke. Aside from a few exteriors, the majority of the film was conspicuously shot on sets, which DeVito highlights rather than hides. The contemporaneous scenes set in Gavin\u2019s office have a particular staginess, with the camera zooming in as the background behind him goes black as if he\u2019s an actor performing a monologue. Such a heightened tone might seem inconsistent with the golden glow of the Roses\u2019 courtship, but DeVito keeps finding ways to puncture the supposed domestic bliss: low angles create the sensation of the characters looming over each other; split diopters keep them in the same frame but distinctly separated. By the last thirty minutes, we\u2019re trapped with the Roses in the blue filter of an endless night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Like the source novel by Warren Adler, the adaptation\u2019s title references the clashes between the York and Lancaster houses for the English throne in the Middle Ages. In the years since the film\u2019s release, \u201cwar of the roses\u201d has become a media shorthand for acrimonious separations. Such ubiquity suggests a certain conceptual fluidity, and it will be interesting to see how the new version modifies it to contemporary mores. But there\u2019s a distinctly late-\u201980s feel to how Oliver and Barbara covet their property above all, where success is measured in square footage and chandeliers. It clearly resonated with audiences at the time, finishing thirteenth at the box office that year. Ironically, it might be best to approach this updated take the same way Gavin advises his client to consider his rocky marriage: \u201cBe generous to the point of night sweats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The War of the Roses” is available for digital rental or purchase<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/war2-1024x576.jpg\")
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