LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- The Roses, in theaters Friday, is quite a different adaptation of Warren Adler's novel The War of the Roses, which previously inspired the 1989 film by Danny DeVito. Written by Tony McNamara (The Favourite) and directed by Jay Roach, this new approach is scathing in its observations about what makes couples grow apart. The movie follows Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Ivy Rose (Olivia Colman), a couple who meet at a restaurant in England and move to California together to start their family. The pair have two kids, Roy (Ollie Robinson and Wells Rappaport) and Hattie (Delaney Quinn and Hala Finley). Theo and Rose both support each other's ambitions at first, with Theo buying Ivy a restaurant and encouraging her to share her talent for cooking. Poor planning of a major design costs Theo his architecture career, however, so he stays at home with the kids while Ivy's restaurant takes off. In this film, McNamara essentially only took the premise of Adler's book, in that there is a couple with the surname Rose whose marriage falls apart. The specifics are all different but very relevant. Roach's version shows how a well-intentioned couple can grow apart. Theo tries to put on a smile after his dreams fall apart, but suppresses his legitimate emotions regarding a traumatic failure. He really does want to support Ivy's business, but they neglect to discuss their expectations. Meanwhile, Ivy takes for granted that Theo will handle all the household and child-rearing tasks, and ends up missing significant events in her children's lives. When Theo and Ivy start sending messages to each other through the kids, it's a very bad sign. Disagreements over parenting styles are natural, but impossible to reconcile when the adults are effectively living apart. These are patterns that occur over many years, but McNamara has a way of writing scenes that address the Roses' recurring conflicts without feeling forced or unnatural. Those believable resentments make the insulting barbs Theo and Ivy exchange all the more brutal because they're based in reality. Cumberbatch has comic timing, one moment trying to reassure the kids but then snapping defensively. Colman is relentless as Ivy picks at Theo's open emotional wounds. At one point in the movie, a counselor identifies the significant problems in the couple's relationship. The most irreconcilable seems to be their shared inability to admit mistakes. Indeed, apologies morph into excuses, cutting short any progress. The mockery and self-righteousness the counselor points out are also not healthy, but those are what make the Roses funny for audiences. These Roses attempt to repair their relationship longer than Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas' couple did in the 1989 film. The fact that they are genuinely trying makes their sniping worse. Even productive solutions end up exacerbating the couple's issues. Ivy lets Theo build a new home to get his architecture mojo back, but Theo becomes too needy to prove himself. Attempts at focusing on the relationship lead to both characters causing scenes, because neither are successful at repressing their true pain, nor should they be. They should get more comfortable opening up before it's too late. Nothing works because both Theo and Ivy are both avoiding dealing with their own insecurities. Instead of encouraging each other to do so, they enable the denial by making each other defensive. The battle for assets in a contentious divorce becomes the 20-minute climax of The Roses, where it was the focal point of the 1989 adaptation. This change works too, because by focusing on attempts at reconciliation, these scenes are the final, most extreme attempts by the Roses to hurt each other in a petty way. The coastal California setting also makes The Roses a much sunnier film than DeVito's. This contrasts with the bitter cloud palpable through all the dialogue. McNamara and Roach also introduce other couples who reflect various aspects of the Roses' dysfunction. Barry (Andy Samberg) and Amy (Kate McKinnon) are also struggling but less viciously, and both characters get occasions to riff in what might be Samberg and McKinnon improvisations. Rory (Jamie Demetriou) and Sally (Zoë Chao) individually provoke the Roses' insecurities. When they are together, they mirror the Roses' vitriol. Divorce is unfortunately timeless, so there have been and will be many more movies about it. Using The War of the Roses as a basis gives The Roses a strong take on how emphasizing the best intentions can turn just as cruel when approached without humility and sincerity. Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.