Review of The War of the Roses

A movie where Danny DeVito is the good guy. Hard to believe. This movie is basically about passive-aggressive relationships. Mrs. Rose (Turner) gives it her all to make her household livable. Mr. Rose (Douglas) is a mild mannered man, but one who only cares about career/financial success. The Roses' are snobs of the worst order, thinking only about their possessions. They represent the 80s. However, Mrs. Rose is the most unhappy. She is stuck in the house. Her husband doesn't seem to care or appreciate anything she does. He only cares about his career goals in his law firm. It is hard to completely blame Mr. Rose. The law firm demands everything from him. He always has to be fit and at their beck and command. Mrs. Rose's depression at her state finally reaches a boiling point when her two children leave for college. That's when the war begins. Mr. Rose hires his buddy (Devito) to be his lawyer. Devito regrets it, realizing that he has to be the go-between two crazy people. Neither of the Roses' sees the silliness and pettiness over fighting over a simple house. The house, however, represents their egos, and their entire self-worth. In the end, they both die, but not before understanding that they really did love each other all along. The sadness is that this didn't stop them for fighting over material gain. I guess the message is that the Roses' represent the values of the 80s, money and power over love.