The War of the RosesMovies like The War of the Roses
- Key Features:
- Divorce, Marriage breakdown, Black comedy, Satire, Property dispute, Escalating conflict, Cynical humor, Wealthy family, Lawyer, Dysfunctional relationship
- Tone:
- satirical, cynical, dramatic
- Target Audience:
- Adults, Fans of dark comedies, Viewers interested in relationship dramas, Those who appreciate satirical humor
- Emotional Arc:
- Contentment → Resentment → Hostility
The War of the Roses

Barbara and Oliver Rose live happily as a married couple. When Barbara starts to wonder what life would be like without Oliver and likes what she sees, the two begin a campaign to force each other to leave their house, with their divorce lawyer D'Amato caught in the middle.
The War of the Roses
Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo: successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing – as Theo's career nosedives while Ivy's own ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites.

A revenge-seeking gold digger marries a womanizing Beverly Hills lawyer with the intention of making a killing in the divorce.

When their best friends announce that they're separating, a professor and his wife discover the faults in their own marriage.

When a young couple buys their dream home, they have no idea what the sweet little old lady upstairs is going to put them through!

After her adulterous husband asks for a divorce, a high-powered attorney takes him captive, refusing to release him until he commits to working on their marriage together. When his impatient mistress shows up, not to mention an opportunistic gardener, things start to get seriously complicated.

Florencia and Vicente are getting divorced. When both are promoted at their jobs, they will do anything in order to do not keep custody of their children.

A cunning and resourceful housewife vows revenge on her husband when he begins an affair with a wealthy romance novelist.

A movie about a relationship...that's worse than yours. Seth (Stewart), a sitcom writer-producer, meets Chelsea (Wilson), an interior decorator, at his best friend's (Bellamy) wedding. He's immediately sexually attracted to her while she's instantly attracted to his single-ness. They both ditch their wedding dates and start their own date that same night. The two become a couple, appearing very happy until after a couple of years of postponing a marriage proposal. When Chelsea realizes that Seth wants to remain single and together, she becomes quite bitter. In the next hour of the movie, the two engage in behavior that makes the War of the Roses look like child's play.

A divorced couple fights for the custody of their three children: neither of them wants it. Mom wants to leave them to dad, and vice versa.

Nicolas Philibert goes to America after killing a French aristocrat. On his return he tries to divorce his wife, Charlotte, but when he sees others trying to woo her his own interest is rekindled.

A very gentle middle-aged man is married, but when he falls in love with another woman, he decides that to divorce his wife would humiliate her too much – so instead he decides to kill her.

A grown man is still caught in the crossfire of his parents' 15 year divorce. He discovers he was unknowingly part of a study on divorced children and is enlisted in a follow-up years later, which wreaks new havoc on his family.

A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.

Cal Weaver is living the American dream. He has a good job, a beautiful house, great children and a beautiful wife, named Emily. Cal's seemingly perfect life unravels, however, when he learns that Emily has been unfaithful and wants a divorce. Over 40 and suddenly single, Cal is adrift in the fickle world of dating. Enter, Jacob Palmer, a self-styled player who takes Cal under his wing and teaches him how to be a hit with the ladies.

After Ashley asks for a divorce, good-natured Carey runs to his friends, Julie and Paul, for support. He’s shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage, that is until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.

While dining out with friends, Sy suggests the difficulty of separating comedy from tragedy. To illustrate his point, he tells his guests two parallel stories about Melinda ; both versions have the same basic elements, but one take on her state of affairs leans toward levity, while the other is full of anguish. Each story involves Melinda coping with a recent divorce through substance abuse while beginning a romantic relationship with a close friend's husband.

Peter is thrilled that his Grandpa is coming to live with his family. That is, until Grandpa moves into Peter's room, forcing him upstairs into the creepy attic. And though he loves his Grandpa, he wants his room back - so he has no choice but to declare war.

To the amusement of their adult children and friends, long-divorced couple Don and Ellie Griffin are forced to play the happy couple for the sake of their adopted son's wedding after his ultra conservative Catholic biological mother unexpectedly decides to fly halfway across the world to attend. With all of the wedding guests looking on, the Griffins are hilariously forced to confront their past, present and future - and hopefully avoid killing each other in the process.

A happy newlywed marriage counselor's views on wedded bliss get thrown for a loop when she finds out her parents are getting divorced.

Flora and Victor are fun, modern, caring parents. That is, until they decide to get a divorce, and the perfect job opportunity turns up for them. They now have one problem: custody.

Sam Stone hates his wife Barbara so much that he wants her dead. He's ecstatic when she's taken by a duo of kidnappers who want $500,000 ransom in exchange for her life. Fully intending to ignore every one of the kidnappers' demands in the hopes that they do him a favor and murder her for him, the two confused kidnappers have to figure out how they're going get their money, and what they're going to do with the overbearing Barbara.

A husband and wife struggle to keep their marriage alive until they realize they are both secretly working as assassins. Now, their respective assignments require them to kill each other.

Hopeless romantic Stensland thinks he's found true love with an older woman, Morgan, only to learn that she's married and that their fling is merely an instrument of revenge against her neglectful husband, Grady. Initially out for blood, Grady finds himself strangely sympathetic to Stensland's plight and decides to get revenge on his wife instead.

Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.

With varying degrees of success, recently divorced friends Dave, Vic and Donny are trying to move on with their lives. Vic feels vilified by his ex-wife's parents, while Donny has a shaky bond with his teen daughter, Emma. Dave, meanwhile, has an enviable problem -- he has more dates than he can handle. As they confront their post-marital challenges, the men take solace in one another's plights.

Florence and Vincent Leroy are a model couple. They have great jobs, a perfect marriage and delightful children. And now they want their divorce to be an equal success. But when they are both simultaneously promoted to their dream jobs, their relationship becomes a nightmare. From that moment on, the gloves are off, the two exes declare war and will do everything in their power to NOT have custody of their children.

In the midst of a nasty public breakup of married movie stars, a studio publicist scrambles to put a cap on the escalating situation as the couple's latest film has found it's only print kidnapped by the director.

Three middle-aged wealthy couples take vacations together in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Along the way we are treated to mid-life, marital, parental and other crises.

When his lawyer wife, Sofia, becomes pregnant, chronic underachiever Tom Reilly must take a job at his father-in-law's advertising firm. Tom has to adjust to the demands of a very high-powered job, and he finds himself in an increasingly hostile office rivalry with Chip, Sofia's paraplegic former lover.

From married couples to platonic roommates to testy rivals with romantic chemistry, the never-ending battle of the sexes gets personal.

During the course of an ordinary week in Hollywood, movie producer Ben must navigate his way through shark-infested waters as he struggles to complete his latest projects. A demanding studio boss demands extensive changes to a movie starring Sean Penn, while another chief won't greenlight a project unless star Bruce Willis shaves his beard. Meanwhile, Ben tries to reconcile with his wife and maintain a relationship with his young daughter.

Dean and Cindy live a quiet life in a modest neighborhood. They appear to have the world at their feet at the outset of the relationship. However, his lack of ambition and her retreat into self-absorption cause potentially irreversible cracks in their marriage.

When an uptight young man and his fiancée move into his libertine mother's house, the resulting clash of life attitudes shakes everyone up.

Marie and Boris decide to get a divorce after 15 years of marriage. Tensions rise when cash-strapped Boris must continue to live with Marie and the two children while trying to figure out how to divide the assets.

A young Englishman marries a glamorous American. When he brings her home to meet the parents, she arrives like a blast from the future - blowing their entrenched British stuffiness out the window.

After a quick courtship, two lovers hastily decide to tie the knot. As their first year of marriage unfolds, temptation and incompatibility put their relationship in jeopardy.

A newly engaged couple finds the home of their dreams and it quickly becomes a nightmare when the previous owner's friend continues squatting in their guest house. It leads to a turf war that ultimately ruins their house, their marriage and their lives.

After being evicted from their Manhattan apartment, a couple buy what looks like the home of their dreams—only to find themselves saddled with a bank-account-draining nightmare. Struggling to keep their relationship together as their rambling mansion falls to pieces around them, the two watch in hilarious horror as everything—including the kitchen sink—disappears into the Money Pit.

Eva is a divorced soon-to-be empty-nester wondering about her next act. Then she meets Marianne, the embodiment of her perfect self. Armed with a restored outlook on being middle-aged and single, Eva decides to take a chance on her new love interest Albert — a sweet, funny and like-minded man. But things get complicated when Eva discovers that Albert is in fact the dreaded ex–husband of Marianne...

The separation of a long married couple goes awry when they fall for each other again.

Determined to unseat Steve Finch's reign as the town's holiday season king, Buddy Hall plasters his house with so many decorative lights that it'll be visible from space! When their wives bond, and their kids follow suit, the two men only escalate their rivalry - and their decorating.

J. is depressed. E. lives peacefully. S. tries to get back with his wife. G. resorts to anxiolytics. P. plays seduction games. María and Sara exchange their husbands. L. calls his lover in a peculiar way.

The rivalry between two former college friends comes to a head when they both attend the same glamorous event.

Delphine and Yvan divorce. While his financial situation does not allow him to find a home, Yvan remembers that he owns 20% of his ex-wife's house. He then returned to live with Delphine, in his 20%. The two ex will discover the joys of forced housemates.

Julio and Ana have been together for more than fifteen years. They have become a couple who no longer look at nor touch one another, and who have made daily fighting the essence of their relationship. This evening, Ana has invited their upstairs neighbors to come round, Salva and Laura, a couple younger than them, pleasant and friendly, but whose noises are now an annoyance for Julio and Ana... or perhaps a stimulus? The upstairs neighbors will make them an unusual and surprising proposal which will turn the evening into an exaggerated and cathartic experience for all four.

Tom and Janet have been happily married for years. But a visit from a mysterious stranger leads to a dead body, a lot of questions, and a tense couples' trip with friends who may not actually be friends at all.

After 15 years of marriage, Katie and her husband, Ben, have grown apart. While they keep up the facade of having a contented marriage, mostly to not worry their children, they aren't happy together and argue frequently. While the kids are away at camp, Katie and Ben decide to separate and try to reassess their relationship to see if they should stay together or split up for good.

Umberto Maria Durloni is a successful lawyer and a socialite who likes parties and a lavish life. He's got it all, except any ethical qualms.Only a step away from the top, his perfect world crumbles, showing him the brutal do downside to his life.

Urban horticulturalist Brontë Mitchell has her eye on a gorgeous apartment, but the building's board will rent it only to a married couple. Georges Fauré, a waiter from France whose visa is expiring, needs to marry an American woman to stay in the country. Their marriage of convenience turns into a burden when they must live together to allay the suspicions of the immigration service, as the polar opposites grate on each other's nerves.

She's a divorce lawyer, single mother and perpetually at war against men, he is a couple's therapist, single and not looking, they meet and collide in a bourgeois and romantic Rome...

Johan and Marianne are married and seem to have it all. Their happiness, however, is a façade for a troubled relationship, which becomes even rockier when Johan admits that he's having an affair. Before long, the spouses separate and move towards finalizing their divorce, but they make attempts at reconciling. Even as they pursue other relationships, Johan and Marianne realize that they have a significant bond, but also many issues that hinder that connection.

Joey Boca is the owner of a pizza parlour, and has been married to Rosalie for years. When Rosalie discovers that Joey is a womanizer and has been cheating on her for a long time, she goes to extreme lengths to punish him.

In this Shakespearean farce, Hero and her groom-to-be, Claudio, team up with Claudio's commanding officer, Don Pedro, the week before their wedding to hatch a matchmaking scheme. Their targets are sharp-witted duo Benedick and Beatrice -- a tough task indeed, considering their corresponding distaste for love and each other. Meanwhile, meddling Don John plots to ruin the wedding.

Ageing, wealthy, rancher and self-made man, George Washington McLintock is forced to deal with numerous personal and professional problems. Seemingly everyone wants a piece of his enormous farmstead, including high-ranking government men and nearby Native Americans. As McLintock tries to juggle his various adversaries, his wife—who left him two years previously—suddenly returns. But she isn't interested in George; she wants custody of their daughter.

Ferdinando Cefalù is desperate to marry his cousin, Angela, but he is married to Rosalia and divorce is illegal in Italy. To get around the law, he tries to trick his wife into having an affair so he can catch her and murder her, as he knows he would be given a light sentence for killing an adulterous woman. He persuades a painter to lure his wife into an affair, but Rosalia proves to be more faithful than he expected.

Marjorie Turner is suffocating in her marriage and day to day life. An extramarital affair with a stranger seems to be the answer until her paramour has a fatal heart attack, and turns out to be less of a stranger than she could have thought...

A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers.

A husband and wife reevaluate their marriage after their closest friends, another couple decide to split up after twelve years.

A common friend's sudden death brings three men, married with children, to reconsider their lives and ultimately leave the country together. But mindless enthusiasm for regained freedom will be short-lived.

The career and personal life of writer Lee are at a standstill, so he divorces his bashful wife, Robin, and dives into a new job as an entertainment journalist. His assignments take him to the swankiest corners of Manhattan, but as he jumps from one lavish party to another and engages in numerous empty romances, he starts to doubt the worth of his work. Meanwhile, top TV producer Tony falls for Robin and introduces her to the world of celebrity.

Michelle and Allen, who have reached the point in their relationship where they are considering next steps, decide to invite their parents to finally meet and to offer some understanding of why marriage works. Except the parents already know each other quite well, which leads to some very distinct opinions about the value of marriage.

Otto Wall is just a little unlucky in life, and unbeknownst to him, in love. When his wife suddenly asks for a divorce, he bounces between a search for answers, desperate attempts to stay connected to his daughter, and his fateful reentry into the dating pool.

Abe is a man who is in his thirties and who lives with his parents. He works regretfully for his father while pursuing his hobby of collecting toys. Aware that his family doesn't think highly of him, he tries to spark a relationship with Miranda, who recently moved back home after a failed literary/academic career. Miranda agrees to marry Abe out of desperation, but things go awry.

A man who has failed as a father and husband commits a heist to make money for his fledging business, but things become complicated when his wife interferes.

After losing her job, making out with her soon-to-be former boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson faces spending the holiday with her unhinged family.

A history professor and his wife entertain a young couple who are new to the university's faculty. As the drinks flow, secrets come to light, and the middle-aged couple unload onto their guests the full force of the bitterness, dysfunction, and animosity that defines their marriage.

A ne'er-do-well who's married to a millionnaire realizes his financial trouble might be solved if his wife was dead - and sets out a plot to achieve just that. A remake of Dino Risi's "il vedovo".

Married for ten years, in full crisis, thinking about divorce. But following a failed scientific experiment, they suddenly find one inside the body of the other.

With his family away for their annual summer holiday, a publishing executive decides to live a bachelor's life. The beautiful but ditzy blonde from the apartment above catches his eye and they soon start spending time together—maybe a little too much time!

A comedy about a married couple -- he's a sports lawyer, she's a psychologist -- which takes place on their 16th wedding anniversary, when they make some startling confessions.

Barely escaping an avalanche during a family ski vacation in the Alps, a married couple is thrown into disarray as they are forced to reevaluate their lives and how they feel about each other.

In order to enjoy his retirement, a father takes drastic measures to get his twentysomething, slacker sons to move out and fend for themselves.

She's a magazine writer who gives up her career for love and family. He's a playboy newspaper columnist who can't quite give up his old tricks. And if that combination doesn't give a relationship heartburn, nothing will.

Middle-aged suburban husband Richard abruptly tells his wife, Maria, that he wants a divorce. As Richard takes up with a younger woman, Maria enjoys a night on the town with her friends and meets a younger man. As the couple and those around them confront a seemingly futile search for what they've lost -- love, excitement, passion -- this classic American independent film explores themes of aging and alienation.

Just three weeks before her wedding, Lola's longtime fiance, Luke, dumps her. With her 30th birthday looming and being forced to re-enter the New York City dating scene, she feels adrift in a cold world. She leans on her friends for support but, after a series of romantic humiliations, professional blunders and boozy antics, Lola realizes that she alone is in charge of her fate.

"Citizen Ruth" is the story of Ruth Stoops, a woman who nobody even noticed -- until she got pregnant. Now, everyone wants a piece of her. The film is a comedy about one woman caught in the ultimate tug-of-war: a clash of wild, noisy, ridiculous people that rapidly dissolves into a media circus.

Ava, a young bank professional is devastated when her husband Dallas abandons a marriage she is determined to fight for until fate intervenes, revealing Dallas' wicked deeds that have trashed their marriage, and once upon a time sabotaged Ava's destiny to be loved by her true soulmate.

Newlywed couple Ted and Tami-Lynn want to have a baby, but in order to qualify to be a parent, Ted will have to prove he's a person in a court of law.

A loser of a crook and his wife strike it rich when a botched bank job's cover business becomes a spectacular success.

When his wife wants a divorce -- in preference of a romantic Frenchman -- husband Livio seemingly accepts. But when he sets up a last weekend together with his secretary and his wife's lover, the trip turns out to be part of an elaborate plan to win his wife back.

A couple has a fight over a game of Scrabble unaware that a full-scale nuclear war has started.

Set during World War II, an upper-class family begins to fall apart due to the conservative nature of the patriarch and the progressive values of his children.

The adventures of an upper-class suburban family abruptly confronted with the younger brother's discovery of his homosexuality, the elder sister's suicide attempt and sadomasochist tendencies, and the intrusion of a very free-spirited maid and her husband. And it all started with the arrival in the family of an innocent looking rat.

Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.

Ten years after their divorce, Jane and Jake Adler unite for their son's college graduation and unexpectedly end up sleeping together. But Jake is married, and Jane is embarking on a new romance with her architect. Now, she has to sort out her life—just when she thought she had it all figured out.

Lorenzo known as Ghandi and Elena met at 18 during a vacation through Nevada and ended up doing the classic madness: they got married in Las Vegas. A few hours later everyone was going their own way, putting the incident behind them (or at least that's what Elena thinks). Twenty years later Elena is about to marry a very rich and brilliant man, but her best friend Sara, a lawyer, informs her that, being technically still married to Lorenzo, she must first dissolve that bond or she will be accused of bigamy. Elena and Lorenzo must therefore return to Las Vegas and obtain a divorce decree in a few days. If they really want to.

When she receives word that her longtime platonic pal Michael O'Neal is getting married to debutante Kimberly Wallace, food critic Julianne Potter realizes her true feelings for Michael -- and sets out to sabotage the wedding.

An uptight, conservative businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life.

The story of a dysfunctional couple, whose problems will inevitably deteriorate their marriage and their son's life.

Down-on-her-luck divorcee Macey and her fickle sister Savanna attempt to win over their terminally ill, difficult-to-please Aunt Hilda in hopes of becoming the beneficiaries of her wealthy estate, only to find the rest of their greedy family members have the same idea.

When a corporate raider threatens a hostile takeover of a 'mom and pop' company, the patriarch of the company enlists the help of his wife's attractive daughter—who is a lawyer—to stop the takeover. However, the raider soon becomes infatuated with her, and enjoys the legal manoeuvring as he tries to win her heart.

Uptight lawyer Peter Sanderson wants to dive back into dating after his divorce and has a hard time meeting the right women. He tries online dating and lucks out when he starts chatting with a fellow lawyer. The two agree to meet in the flesh, but the woman he meets — an escaped African-American convict named Charlene — is not what he expected. Peter is freaked out, but Charlene tries to convince him to take her case and prove her innocence. Along the way, she wreaks havoc on his middle-class life as he gets a lesson in learning to lighten up.

After divorcing his ambitious singer wife, a middle-aged man begins a new relationship with a teacher.

Regina, our young protagonist, always dreamed of getting married. And she did it - but the dream lasted much less than she thought and now she has to face life in a very funny way as a divorcee.

When their car breaks down, a couple on the run headed southbound for a fresh start in the Sunshine State break into a nearby house looking for a new set of wheels. What they find instead is a dark secret, and a sweet-as-pie pair of homeowners who will do anything to keep it from getting out.

Pushed to the breaking-up point after their latest 'why can't you do this one little thing for me?' argument, Brooke calls it quits with her boyfriend Gary. What follows is a hilarious series of remedies, war tactics, overtures and undermining tricks – all encouraged by the former couple's friends and confidantes …and the occasional total stranger! When neither ex is willing to move out of their shared apartment, the only solution is to continue living as hostile roommates until one of them reaches breaking point.

Paul and Virginie just had a baby boy. Happy to discover their new life as young parents, they did not imagine that their Boutchou would become the stake of a merciless struggle between the grandparents ... To gain the exclusivity of the little adored, grandfathers and grandparents. mothers are ready to implement any stratagems ...

A married workaholic, Michael Newman doesn't have time for his wife and children, not if he's to impress his ungrateful boss and earn a well-deserved promotion. So when he meets Morty, a loopy sales clerk, he gets the answer to his prayers: a magical remote that allows him to bypass life's little distractions with increasingly hysterical results.

