The War of the Roses 1989

Janet Maslin, New York Times: DeVito's direction is distinctively odd (with a lot of low-angle shots looking up at things), enjoyably mischievous and always somehow mindful that there may be, at the heart of all this comic mayhem, something substantial going on. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: DeVito's taste for unorthodox camera angles and striking camera movements occasionally verges on overreaching but for the most part admirably serves the action. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It's to the credit of DeVito and his co-stars they they were willing to go that far, but maybe it shows more courage than wisdom. Read more

Time Out: De Vito's quirky camera angles and Kathleen Turner's steely-eyed spite inject a sadistic comic-strip madness into a film that for once has the nerve to see its nastiness through. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Trying to wring yocks from a deranged couple locked in mortal combat over possession of their house is more suited to film noir than black comedy. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: [A] deliciously jaundiced perspective on matrimony. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: The War of the Roses is yuppie Armageddon, an explosion of empty values and curdled peevishness that blows a marriage and blasts a decade. Read more