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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 43602
Released: December 18, 2001 |
| Our Price: $3.95 |
| Used Price: $2.52 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
In this blackest of comedies, a perfect 18-year marriage suddenly becomes unglued and the gleefully evil Barbara (Kathleen Turner) and Oliver (Michael Douglas) Rose single-mindedly inflict as much misery as possible on each other. Rather than just get divorced, they declare war, fighting to the bitter end over their huge mansion and every possession in it. Not even the calculating guidance of Oliver's lawyer (Danny DeVito) can stop this uncompromisingly nasty two some as their vicious battle sends them on an increasingly dark and dangerous path.
Description of The War of the Roses:
Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito reunited for a third time to fabulous effect in this dark, disturbing comedy of martial 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, aside from their two college-bound kids, 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 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 hyperstylized 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 '80s materialism, tempered only by its framing device as a cautionary tale. Definitely not a date movie. --Mark Englehart
The War of the Roses Reviews:
FUNNY........ 
2009-06-28 - THIS MOVIE WAS TO FUNNY IF YOUR GOING THREW OR NOT....A DIVORCE. I JUST TO HAVE A COPY TO WATCH OVER AND OVER...VERY ENJOYABLE. I RECOMEND IT TO ALL.
DVD 
2009-05-07 - DVD looks to be in good shape (I haven't watched it yet) and arrived on time.
A very funny, and yet thought-provoking movie
2009-05-01 - When Oliver and Barbara met it was love at first sight, and as with any fairytale come true, they married. But, slowly and surely, reality soon began to wear away their Happily-Ever-After, and before long divorce was in the offing. Will Oliver and Barbara Rose part amicably and reasonably? Hell, no! A War of the Roses is blossoming, and no one will be left standing!
This is a very funny, and yet thought-provoking movie. Kathleen Turner does a great job of playing Barbara Rose, an Every-Woman who is sweet and sensual, but with an indomitable spirit. Michael Douglas makes an excellent Oliver Rose - a man who knows what he wants, but doesn't necessarily know how to get it.
The story of the movie was quite entertaining - the first part being love story, the second part being tragedy as we watch good love go bad, and the final part being wonderful slap-stick as love turns into hate. This is a great movie, that I have watched many times, and never tire of. If you like a good story, then get The War of the Roses, turn out the lights and watch it all unravel before your eyes!
(Review of The War of the Roses starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas)
romantic comedy
2009-04-08 - This is the best movie I've seen in a long time. What depths people go to get what they want!
One of the best and funniest films ever made
2009-02-27 - The War of the Roses
This DVD should be required viewing for all people intending to get married, and for all people intending to get divorced. Danny DeVito gives incredibly sound advice, (as the lawyer) in this story. If it's possible to laugh at other's misfortune, this film makes it possible.
