The Movie Michael Douglas Describes as Wonderfully Sick Will Leave You Speechless

Michael Douglas once talked about a movie he thought was wonderfully sick. He said it showed marriage in a way that was both funny and really dark. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he mentioned a film that didn’t just make people laugh but also made them feel uncomfortable.

The movie he was talking about is The War of the Roses, a 1989 black comedy directed by Danny DeVito. Douglas starred in it alongside Kathleen Turner. The story follows a couple whose love turns into a full-blown war over their home. What starts as a normal marriage slowly becomes a fight filled with cruelty and chaos.

Douglas explained that the film was very different from something like Kramer vs. Kramer, which came out ten years earlier. “I wasn’t sure a studio would let us keep the ending the way it was,” he said.

But DeVito stayed true to the dark tone, keeping the story raw and honest. Douglas also added that DeVito has a very “dark, sick sense of humor” and that this helped make the movie feel authentic.

The War of the Roses didn’t give audiences a happy ending. It showed how love can turn dangerous and how bitter divorce can be. The movie was harsh, funny, and sad all at once. Over time, it became a reference for other divorce dramas, like the 2019 film Marriage Story.

Even though Michael Douglas has had many famous films, he thinks The War of the Roses is special and maybe underrated. When he received a Palme d’Or at Cannes, people mostly talked about his bigger hits, not this dark comedy.

Today, at 81, Douglas is mostly retired. He said he doesn’t plan to act again unless a really amazing role comes along. Lately, he has been traveling and spending time with his family. He did make a recent appearance at a film event in New York, where he shared a funny story about Jack Nicholson teasing him about his hair during Wall Street.

Douglas’s latest work came in 2025 with the drama Looking Through Water. He acted alongside his son, Cameron Douglas, and other actors like David Morse and Walker Scobell.

The film tells the story of a man reflecting on a life-changing fishing trip that helped him reconnect with his family. Douglas has also commented on how technology is changing movies, saying Silicon Valley is making filmmaking simpler but less personal.

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