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War of the Roses, The

EMAIL PRINT20th Century Fox Film Corporation

7.5 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 17 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 11 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Michael Leeson
Warren Adler (novel)

Directed by: Danny DeVito

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 1, 1989
DVD: December 18, 2001

Running Time: 116 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R

Starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Marianne Sägebrecht, Sean Astin, Heather Fairfield, G.D. Spradlin, and Peter Donat

This classic black comedy proves that divorce is war, and war is hell.

Also On Metacritic

FILM: Death to Smoochy Duplex Hoffa

Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Time Richard Schickel

But it is the style with which this wild farce is developed that sustains our horrified interest and keeps us laughing as the darkness gathers around Barbara and Oliver. [11 Dec 1989]

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

A compellingly watchable, suspenseful, and often funny treatment of a grim subject--the hatred that can build up in a long-term marriage--that also becomes an indirect commentary on yuppie materialism.

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Los Angeles Times Sheila Benson

Biting and vicious, a styptic pencil on the battered face of "civilized divorce." It's also thoughtful, laceratingly funny, and bravely true to its own black-and-blue comic vision. [8 Dec 1989]

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Under the astute direction of Danny DeVito, who does a sly turn as Oliver's attorney, this acid-dipped epic of revenge is killingly funny and dramatically daring.

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Entertainment Weekly Steve Daly

DeVito doesn't hesitate to send the camera anywhere to goose the humor.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Director DeVito, who never did know when to quit, manages to be as clever as he is vicious. His first movie, "Throw Momma From the Train," seems almost lyrical in comparison to the ruthlessness of this vehicle.

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Washington Post Desson Thomson

The most brutal husband-wife encounter since axe-wielding Jack Nicholson yelled "Heeeeere's Johnny!" to Shelley Duvall in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining."

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TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

DeVito films this tale with a fiendish gusto, yet with psychological realism and meticulous attention to an inexorable logic in the plotting, even as the Roses' war moves from the outlandish to the surreal.

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Empire Staff (Not Credited)

Quite shocking, almost avant-garde in the way it constantly confounds expectations built up over years of formula pictures.

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Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr

It can't be easy to keep a comedy on track when the underlying emotions are so vicious, and indeed DeVito's staging slips more than once -- too realistic here, too broad there -- resulting in a film that is at least as often funny-peculiar as it is funny-haha. [8 Dec 1989]

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

Although the movie goes too far, you can hardly get enough of its delicious atmosphere - and of Turner, in particular, who has never looked better on the big screen. [8 Dec 1989]

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The ending is especially inventive, managing to be sour, cynical, sentimental, and upbeat at the same time. [22 Dec 1989]

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie treads a dangerous line. There are times when its ferocity threatens to break through the boundaries of comedy - to become so unremitting we find we cannot laugh.

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USA Today Mike Clark

This smashingly filmed and performed one-shot is (uh, so to speak) the year's best romantic comedy. [8 Dec 1989]

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

The film's outstanding nastiness, which is often diabolically funny until a poorly staged final battle sequence simply takes things too far, has something real and recognizable at its core.

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Variety Staff (Not Credited)

Trying to wring yocks from a deranged couple locked in mortal combat over possession of their house is more suited to film noir than black comedy.

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Wall Street Journal David Brooks

A great premise for a movie. Unfortunately, The War of the Roses is not clever, at least not very often. [14 Dec 1989, p.A20(E)]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Sandra N gave it a10:
The best comedy i have ever seen. Michael Douglas & Kathleen Turner were made for the parts they played in this classic comedy. I have looked everywhere to get the DVD for this movie.

Sunny G gave it a10:
Apt handling of subject. Great movie. So true...There is no winner, better get out of the divorce as quickly as possible if it becomes inevitable.

Phyllis D. gave it a 10:
This movie left me thinking about how true to life "Roses" is. People once in passionate love and passionately hate. It is just the flip-side of the emotion love.

Pat C. gave it a 9:
Best divorce movie I've seen. As sometimes happens, the partners blame each other for their psychoses, so it's a cautionary tale where the only alternative guidance that is offered is precious little, by DeVito as narrator.

Lisa M. gave it a 10:
FUnniest movie I have ever seen!

Mackenzie V. gave it a 10:
This movie was hilarious. I loved it soo much.