Product description

War Of The Roses [1989]

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Average customer rating: 4.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5039036004817
Label : 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Publisher : 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release date : 2001-08-20
Title : War Of The Roses [1989]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 15 years and over
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1989-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 111
Studio : 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Theatrical releaseDate : 1989-12-08
Number of discs : 1

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito are reunited for a third time to fabulous effect in The War of the Roses. This is a dark, disturbing comedy of marital trauma and revenge, which couldn't be more different from their sunnier outings in Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. Douglas and Turner, in career-best performances, are the materialistic, consumer-driven Roses of the title (Oliver and Barbara) whose seemingly perfect marriage has soured beyond repair; their only point of contact is their meticulously maintained dream house, which Douglas bought and Turner decorated to perfection. When Turner gets a taste of financial independence, she asks Douglas for a divorce--all she wants is the house and everything in it (aside from his clothes and shaving kit). He laughs at her and she punches him in the face. Things only get worse from there, as nasty divorce proceedings (with DeVito as Douglas's lawyer) give way to insults, threats, ruined dinner parties and pet abuse. And through it all, the Roses begin destroying their beloved home and its contents, just to spite each other. DeVito, who also directed, takes Michael Leeson's blacker-than-black screenplay and gives it a hyper-stylised spin, complete with skewed camera angles and wonderfully expressionistic cinematography (by Stephen Burum) as Douglas and Turner barricade themselves in their house, both refusing to give an inch. Shocking for a mainstream studio picture, with its unsympathetic protagonists, escalating bitterness and disturbing finale, Roses is a poisonously funny valentine to both marriage and 1980s materialism, tempered only by its framing device as a cautionary tale. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com

Customer reviews

review by: 14geronimo date: 2008-06-03 rating:

Don't bother
I love DeVito and I'm an unconditional fan of Michael Douglas, but this film is totally uninteresting. What a bore. Husband and wife fight stupid for the whole film, and in-between scenes you see DeVito puff on his cigarettes, making a big thing out of it. Exciting isn't it? uh, maybe not... There's no special bound between the characters, DeVito and Douglas characters are not even friends or anything, so the fact that he seams to care is not even believable - well, the same is true for the spectator to be honest. I pass on the fact that the direction is technically outdated. Nothing else to report. I give it 2 stars for the actors which I love, but frankly this is a waste of two hours.

review by: sitorimon date: 2007-11-15 rating:

The Ultimate Divorce Movie!
Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas are always great together and I think they really do their best duo work together in this film in what is a dark comedy about how being materialistic is not always the best thing to be.

Told in reflection by Danny DeVito as a lawyer, he recalls the story which sent him back to his form chainsmoking self. Turner and Douglas meet and seem to have the perfect marriage for many years with two children growing up to leave the nest (cue Sean Astin (Samwise the Brave)). However over the years Douglas works all day and comes home to his perfect house made perfect by Turner. Deciding enough is enough she asks for a divorce in exchange for the house she built - a house that Douglas will not yeild as it was made with his money.

From there is decends into a battle of increasingly outlandish getbacks to make sure they secure the house including dog pate, cat killing, plate smashing and mousetrap setting. Each time the actions get more desperate.

I won't spoil the ending but its fantastic and I've watched this film so many times it never fails to make me laugh and I never know who to side with either which is great.

If you enjoy comedy, love films gone wrong or dark humour you'll love War Of The Roses

review by: porkycat date: 2007-06-06 rating:

A very black comedy
As a depiction of the disintegration of a once loving relationship this film takes some beating. If you watch it with blinkers on there are scenes that are funny in isolation. Taken as a whole, much of it portrays a couple doing their very best to ruin each others lives with increasingly vindictive and cruel words and deeds.

The script, acting and direction are brilliant. Douglas and Turner couldn't have been better chosen as the once deeply in love couple who do their very best to torture each other and simply will not forgive and move on.

The ending is a shock, utterly appropriate and unforgettable.

review by: NINJA #1 date: 2005-04-05 rating:

A dirty war
This is a real belter of a film, you have to buy this film, a real treat

review by: deccanna date: 2004-05-20 rating:

war of the roses
I love the movie, but am at a loss how to get a DVD copy in AUSTRALIA (ZONE 4).

Can you please help.

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