It’s Complicated (Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin) : Movie Review
December 22, 2009 by Sean Lynch
Filed under Movie Reviews, Movies
Writer / Director Nancy Meyers directs Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin in It’s Complicated, a comedy about love, divorce and everything in between. Oh, and old people sex… let’s not forget the old people sex.
Jane (Meryl Streep) is the mother of three grown kids, owns a thriving Santa Barbara bakery and has – after a decade of divorce – an amicable relationship with her ex-husband, attorney Jake (an increasingly chubby Baldwin). But when Jane and Jake find themselves out of town for their son’s college graduation, things start to get complicated when an innocent meal together turns into a torrid and passionate affair.
With Jake remarried to the much younger Agness (Lake Bell), Jane is now, of all things, the “other woman”.
Throw in Adam (Steve Martin), an architect hired to remodel Jane’s kitchen, into the mix and you’ve got yourself a good old fashioned love triangle – and the makings of a sure fire romantic comedy hit.
It's Complicated : Painfully Predictable, Surprisingly Enjoyable
WHAT’S THE BUZZ
Romantic comedies – or more to the point, GOOD romantic comedies – are a tough nut to crack, having to walk the fine between funny and serious, schmaltzy and realistic. The simple fact is that very few can, or do, get away with it.
It seems that Nancy Meyers’ It’s Complicated is one of the lucky few that falls into the “can do” category – albeit by default.
Sure, it may tick off every possible rom-com plot cliche, gag and “Oh no!” set up in the book, but in doing so it assures that the audience (mostly groups of women who have gargled down a few glasses of wine prior) get everything they want from the package.
Most importantly, however, Meyers plays out every cliche well… very well in fact.
The key to It’s Complicated’s success lies largely with yet another stellar, joy-filled performance from Meryl Streep. I have to admit, the sheer spunk and chutzpah (look at me going all Hebrew on yo’ asses) Streep displays here (along with her turns in Mamma Mia and Julie & Julia) is inexplicably attractive – dare I say even a bit sexy – and really keeps energy moving throughout the entire movie.
Away We Go’s John Krasinski also helps out with the yuk-yuks in a surprisingly meaty (READ: “studio executive-influenced”) supporting role, while Baldwin continues his quest to be both eccentric and charming.
Yes, the dialouge is often incredibly stilted and bare bones (especially from the strangely subdued Steve Martin – oh how I pine for Father Of The Bride 3 : Citzens On Patrol). Yes, the myriad of predictable antics play out like a camp 1970s British farce. Yes, the cringe worthy references to “Blackberries”, “Twitter” and “Online Chatting” are unnecessarily shoe-horned in…
But… somehow… it all works.
Having almost vomited from the boredom and downright shit-ness inflicted by Did You Hear About The Morgans? (a flick which had all the cliches and formula driven gags in the world to exploit… and failed), it is refreshing to see that Nancy Meyers can somehow still manage to breathe life and fun into something like It’s Complicated and make it work above and beyond (what should be) a stock standard product.
Is it the greatest rom-com ever? Of course not. But my mum would have howled with laughter and loved ab-so-lutely every minute of it, and so will yours. And that’s good enough for me.
It’s Complicated is the perfect, fun, carefree way to kick off the new year – no strings attached!
WATCH OUT FOR
How is it that everyone in movie-land is richer than Bill Gates? The locations are amazing (especially Jane’s villa) and well worth checking out – especially all of you Ikea nuts out there.
WATCH OUT FOR | RATING : 4 / 5
