Growing up, it was always fascinating to observe the different family dynamics at play amongst my friends and their parents. Some were liberal, some were conservative, but none were like the Roses. Made up of parental units, Ivy (Olivia Colman), a pot-smoking, wise-cracking gourmet chef Mom and a neurotic architect Father, Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch), who together make the most unconventional Pommie couple ever.
Their coming together was storybook and instantaneous, their tip into separation and animosities slow and grinding. Theo, through a building project disaster, loses his job and reputation and retires to raise their two children. At the same time, Ivy scales the heights, running a restaurant that becomes wildly successful and expands to become a thriving chain of locations.
The animosity that builds between the couple is played mostly for laughs, but the vitriol that lies underneath is caustic and pries them apart. Their surrealistic life is not tethered to reality when they are around their friends, either, as they are a very odd mob. Nothing phases best mate Barry (Andy Samberg), whose advice is comical at best and his partner Amy (the under-utilised Kate McKinnon) is hard to pin down.
Most of the humour resides in the combative banter between Ivy and Theo, and while not all the jokes hit their mark, they are consistently amusing. The detachment of the reality of their ultra-entitled lifestyle and money-fuelled existence is there and provides more comic fodder. The good fun is there, but is slightly marred by a lack of chemistry between the two leads as that relationship prevents the good from being great.
Rob Hudson
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