War of the Roses

Year of release : 1989

 

Run time : 1h57min

 

Genre : Comedy / Dark Comedy / Satire

 

Cast : Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito

 

 

The movie is based on the 1981 novel of the same name, written by Warren Adler .

 

Barbara and Oliver meet at an auction,while buying a statue worth 250 dollars for 50 dollars. They start talking, and end up together.

Years later,they have two children, and Barbara buys Oliver his favorite car.

More years later, Barbara finally gets to buy the house she always dreamt of,as the owner dies. Oliver is very busy with his job,so she gets to arrange the house and decorate it to her taste.

 

As the kids grow up,and Oliver decides to hire a live-in help, Barbara has more free time, and due to the fact her friends like her cooking,she decides to start a business.

 

Barbara starts to despise Oliver, as he's always away, he never lets her finish telling a story, and he has this fake laugh she can't stand. The most important thing being,she asked him to look over her contract and he kept on postponing it, in the end killing flies with it!

 

Oliver has an indigestion, and he thinks he's dying, having a heart attack, and while on the hospital bed, waiting for Barbara to arrive, he writes her a love letter.

 

Hearing about it, Barbara rushes to the hospital, but never shows up.

When they finally meet home, Barbara tells Oliver she felt happy at the thought of him gone, and wants a divorce.

 

Barbara wants the house, as she considers it hers. Oliver doesn't want to give her the house, as he thinks the house is his, as he bought it.

 

Oliver's lawyer tells him he can live in the house,as this old law permitted spouses who were divorced to live in the same house if they didn't have money to move out.

 

Problem is, Oliver starts acting up, and does more and more atrocious things to Barbara while saying he doesn't want a divorce because he loves her ( SPOILERS he kills her cat -by accident, throws his napkin after blowing his nose into the pot she cooked for an important dinner(in front of the guests), and pees into the steaming pot for the same dinner(in front of the guests)..and the list goes on).

 

The movie is narrated by a family friend, and the husband's buddy, and lawyer.

 

When I watched this movie growing up, I loved it, but now, not so much. I still laughed at certain scenes, but this time what the husband did to the wife was just appalling to me while refusing to give her a divorce (the house) stating he loved her. I didn't like the wife much either, as she never liked his dog, feeding her cat in front of the poor dog,teasing him.

 

The acting was fine, especially from Michael Douglas.

I didn't care for the soundtrack.

I loved their house, and their pets.

 

The movie is directed by Danny DeVito.

 

The movie is for rent or sale on Amazon, Apple, DirecTv, Google, Redbox, Vudu, YouTube.

 

Rating : Worth a watch !