The laughs need a divorce from the conflicts here.

I watched Danny DeVito’s take on Warren Adler’s novel “The War of the Roses” to warm myself up for the remake “The Roses.” In the 1989 movie, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner played a soon-to-be divorced couple, who start off as a love birds, happily married with two kids and high paying jobs. But they end up destroying each other’s lives. And it was practically narrated by DeVito, who tells his latest client their story.

In “The Roses,” the couple on the brink of divorce are Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Ivy Rose (Olivia Colman), who both leave London to pursue their American dreams in California. He is an architect whose dream comes crashing down, while she is a chef with the successful seafood bistro “We’ve Got Crabs.” Although I’m surprised her husband’s humiliation didn’t give her bad publicity.

So, this is the part when I must compare and contrast, and tell you which version is better. I would stick to the original movie, because while this new one has some laughs and well-meaning moments, it ends up being cynical. You probably saw the trailer, and assumed that the couple would argue throughout the movie (let’s forget how Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher tainted the genre in “What Happens in Vegas”). The movie starts off with a scene of marriage counseling, then it gets to how Theo and Ivy met and started a happy life, and then it goes to his downfall and her upgrade, which motivates him to get back on top. That’s about 75% of the movie.

Now we get to the other 25%. There is a funny drunk scene that involves a cake and a sweet moment with a beached whale, but then it starts to get desperate with how the husband and wife ruin each other’s lives, and even has a gun and knife fight. And all of this has to do with his house that he built with her money, which she made from her franchise.

While Douglas and Turner’s kids were chubby thanks to their perspectives of junk food, Theo and Ivy’s kids (first played by Delaney Quinn and Ollie Robinson and later by Hala Finley and Wells Rappaport) in shape thanks to a contract/commitment. It’s one or the other, but it does sound funny, like they were borrowed from Wes Anderson.

And the supporting cast also includes Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon as Theo and Ivy’s friends, Allison Janney as her lawyer, Jamie Demetriou and Zoe Chao as another couple, Sunita Mani (“Save Yourselves”) as a sous chef, and Ncuti Gatwa as the We’ve Got Grabs manager. And Samberg is the one who plays Theo’s lawyer later in the film for the record.

“The Roses” is the first film Jay Roach has directed since the mediocre HBO COVID comedy “Coastal Elites.” He has Cumberbatch and Colman having chemistry and charming aspects that makes them likable, and he also has McKinnon delivering some funny punchlines. He also collaborates with screenwriter Tony McNamara (“Poor Things,” “The Favourite”), who suggested that we see what this couple does to each other during their marriage while paying homage to the original. I don’t think it pays enough homage.

It’s funny I’m reviewing a movie about a married couple on the brink of divorce this week, because I came across “Splitsville,” which is also about a soon-to-be divorced couple, but also has another couple with an opened relationship in the mix. It should be expanding soon, but even though it’s a lot to take in, I still thought it was funny and interesting. It’s the kind of relationship movie that likes to be different, and it is. And I mean that in a good way.

“The Roses” is funny, but not that original.