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The Appropriate Tune: 'Come Alive (War of the Roses)' by Janelle Monae
Danny Devito: America’s Favorite Short Angry Man. Whether it’s his stint as Frank Reynolds in the long-running comedy show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, his stint in the other long-running comedy show Taxi, his partnership with Arnold Schwarzenegger, he’s easily one of Hollywood’s most recognizable comedic actors. As popular as he is in front of the camera however, it feels like not many people know that he also has had a career behind it as well. Not a huge career mind you, the dude isn’t secretly Alfred Hitchcock or anything but he’s made a handful of films, and he’s got a flair for gallows humor that helps those films stand out. Not always in the most profitable way, if you remember Death to Smoochy, but if you’re visiting this blog you’re probably more interested in unique flops than by-the-numbers hits anyway. So let’s try one out.
Released in 1989, The War of the Roses was written by Michael J. Leeson, directed by Danny Devito and produced by James L. Brooks and Arnon Milchan through Gracie Films, based on the 1981 novel of the same name by Warren Adler. Danny Devito plays Gavin D’Amato, a divorce lawyer who is telling his potential client (and by extension the audience) a story about Oliver (Michael Douglas) and Barbara (Kathleen Turner) Rose. A couple who were once very much in love, and very much living that vaunted ‘American Dream’, but after 18 years of marriage the cream has curdled. Barb wants a divorce, and she wants the house along with it. Oliver doesn’t necessarily want a divorce, but he definitely doesn’t want to give up the house, and he quickly learns of a legal loophole that allows him to keep living inside the house as the divorce proceeds. With neither side willing to budge, what was once simply the unfortunate ending of a relationship quickly turns toxic as the two go to greater and greater lengths in order to force the other out. With the fate of this petit-bourgeois estate at stake, who will prevail in this war of the Roses? Probably not Richard of York.
It’s rather funny to consider that the screenwriter for this film, Michael J. Leeson was mostly known for TV shows like The Partridge Family and The Cosby Show, as it’s hard to imagine a more perfect antithesis to that ideal than War of the Roses. Oliver goes from a somewhat neglectful dickhead to a petty, vindictive lunatic, and while the film generally gears us toward sympathizing with Barb, it isn't long before she becomes as much of a degenerate as her husband. Naturally, coming from the Trash Man himself, but interestingly Devito’s cinematic worldview isn’t as bleak as his work on It’s Always Sunny would imply. The world of War of the Roses isn’t a miserable place, people aren’t naturally horrible (despite what Gavin says), but it isn’t a fairy tale either, and the way this couple tortures each other borders on the cartoonishly absurd. The immediate comparison would be to Terry Gilliam, but even his more lighthearted films have moments of random cruelty (the ending to Time Bandits comes to mind). To Devito when someone succumbs to their greed, they fall hard, but as unhinged as our couple gets they never fall so far as to completely lose their humanity, and their toxicity is aimed largely at each other rather than their friends and family. One of whom is a teenage Sean Astin, by the way.
Speaking of Terry Gilliam, there’s something visually about War of the Roses that brings to mind the former Python, or perhaps Tim Burton. The almost storybook way that certain scenes are set up, the choice of colors, you half expect Beetlejuice to walk around the corner. I felt the same way about Death to Smoochy, although that film might actually be closer to Gilliam than this one was. The cinematographer, Stephen H. Burum would later go on to greater acclaim with Devito on his film Hoffa as well as a long partnership with Brian de Palma, but he didn’t work on Smoochy, which leads me to believe that War of the Roses is chiefly Devito’s vision. It’s a shame then that he has so rarely gotten behind the camera, as I think he has the eye for it. Give him one of these properties like Umbrella Academy or Series of Unfortunate Events and I think he would have hit it out of the park.
Here’s a fact that I just learned as I was writing this: this was not the first time that Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny Devito had shared the silver screen together. They had actually collaborated together 5 years earlier on Romancing the Stone, Indiana Jones’ romcom cousin, and I guess Devito thought they had good chemistry together. They do, although watching this film it’s hard to imagine them actually being romantic with each other, which I imagine was part of the joke to the audience for whom Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile was still a relatively fresh memory . They fit into these roles perfectly too -- Douglas plays the condescending dickhead with a natural ease, but he doesn’t have the intensity of a Jack Nicholson so his viciousness lacks teeth. Kathleen Turner has the look of strained beauty down pat but she’s definitely not a waif, so even during Oliver’s’ more psycho scenes he comes across as more of a pompous ass when compared to the more capable and violent Barbara, helping to keep things from feeling too ‘real’, which was the true balancing act of this film. They knew how to pretend to love each other, so of course they’d know how to pretend to hate each other.
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The biggest con for me is probably the length. War of the Roses is almost two hours long, and while that’s definitely not uncommon for movies these days, I do think it took a little too long to start ramping things up and so lost some steam around the middle of the film. It’s also seems like a bit of a waste of Sean Astin, given how little the Rose children factor into the story, but I guess we can take solace in the fact that thet don’t seem as fucked up as their parents.
The War of the Roses gets the recommendation. As I said it takes its time to ramp up, but when it does Devito’s blend of whimsy and bluntly macabre humor makes for a thoroughly entertaining watch. As a perpetually single blogger I have no idea what effect this will have on someone who is married or recently been married, so if you fit into those criteria put this in the queue at your own risk. And avoid the fish soup.
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