The Roses

Like cheap gum that quickly loses its flavor, The Roses starts strong yet soon abandons the qualities that made it appealing, leaving viewers to chew on tasteless cinema — or simply spit it out.

Directed by Jay Roach, who hasn't made a good movie since Trumbo (2015), this remake of The War of the Roses opens with 15-ish stellar minutes, during which it's a pleasure to watch chef Ivy (Olivia Colman) and architect Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) meet cute in London, then check in with them a decade later to see the happy, quirky life they've built in Mendocino, California, as parents to twins Hattie and Roy.

But then a freak storm ruins Theo’s career and launches Ivy’s, and along with this professional flip-flop, the filmmakers trade out their winning comedic formula for something far less successful.

Apparently taking a note from the Amy Schumer book of “comedy,” twice-Oscar-nominated screenwriter Tony McNamara (Poor Things; The Favourite) pivots to cheap yuks rooted in his characters getting drunk, spraying profanity, and saying outrageous things. Two of our best working actors, Colman and Cumberbatch prove ill-equipped at wringing laughs out of debasement and cruelty, and it's painful to watch them flail about.

The change also encourages an excessive amount of Kate McKinnon in her unwatchable Ghostbusters weirdo mode as the Roses’ friend Amy, and Andy Sandberg stuck on his ditzy blond setting as her husband Barry — neither of which fits either frequently reliable performer.

Why the Roses keep hanging out with them and fellow annoying couple Sally (Zoë Chao, Downhill) and Rory (Jamie Demetriou, Cruella) when they clearly don't like them is a mystery, especially since their relationship is built on independence from others’ expectations. But their taste in friends is far from the lone head-scratcher that arises as our protagonists’ relationship goes from bad to worse, dragging viewers down into their marital misery without offering anything close to entertainment.

Grade: D-plus. Rated R. Now playing at Carolina Cinemark, the Fine Arts Theatre, and Regal Biltmore Grande.

(Photo: Searchlight Pictures)