The War of the Roses **** (1989, Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Marianne Sägebrecht, Sean Astin) – Classic Movie Review 4563

Director Danny DeVito’s exuberant 1989 black farcical comedy, in which marriage turns out to be a bed of thorns for Mr Oliver and Mrs Barbara Rose, reunites the three stars of Romancing the Stone – Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. As well as directing, DeVito also plays Douglas’s divorce lawyer, Gavin D’Amato.

With its screenplay written by Michael Leeson based on the novel by Warren Adler, the film starts vintage Hollywood romantic style with the young Roses falling in love and living as a happy married couple, but then only to fall out of love in middle age. Barbara re-imagines her life without Oliver, but both want to stay living in their nice house, and they begin a no-holds-barred campaign fighting to force each other to leave.

[Spoiler alert] However, the film’s third act where you expect the couple to get back together again just gets more and more bitter – and more and more hilarious.

The War of the Roses is a delicious Eighties comedy classic, played to perfection by the three stars, all of whom are great, though it is the steely-eyed Turner who takes the acting honours.

Also in the cast are Marianne Sägebrecht, Sean Astin, Heather Fairfield, G D Spradlin, Peter Donat, Danitra Vance, Peter Brocco and Dan Castellaneta.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4563

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