It’s Complicated / 3 ½ stars out of 5
‘It’s Complicated’ is a mature romantic comedy that tackles the love problems of an older woman, played with strength and humor by Meryl Streep. Not too long ago it would have been next to impossible to get this film made in youth obsessed Hollywood, but things are slowly changing –more on that later. While not very profound or deep, it does provide laughs and an entertaining story. The story itself is a mature, funny telling of a classic love triangle archetype. Only this time there are more sex jokes and pot smoking.
The living goddess Meryl Streep plays Jane Adler, a fifty-something divorcee whose youngest daughter has just left for college. Jane runs a successful bakery – she must be raking in the dough to afford such a nice home on the California coast. Alec Baldwin plays her ex-husband of 10 years Jake, who is a successful lawyer and whose mistress-turned-new-wife, Agness, has a son, Pedro, who was conceived during an affair during their marriage. All of this information is clumsily relayed to the audience by Jane’s gal pals during one of the many gourmet dinners Jane prepares throughout the film.
The plot really thickens when Jane, Jake, and their children venture to New York City to attend their son Luke’s college graduation. They run into each other at the hotel bar, have a few drinks, dance to some Tom Petty and before you know it they have begun an affair. Between trying to hide the affair from her children and figuring out her feelings for Jake, Steve Martin enters Jane’s life as Adam, a likeable divorced architect. Will Meryl choose her slightly sleazy ex-husband or take a gamble on the shy, sensitive Steve Martin? Or will she choose to remain alone with her massive mansion and delicious baked goods?
Nancy Meyers – whose past credits include ‘Something’s Gotta Give’ and ‘The Holiday’ – does an admirable job of handling both writing and directing. Meyers is a much better writer than she is a filmmaker. Her visual style is so generic that the film works in spite of her technical abilities. What keeps ‘It’s Complicated’ from being your usual romantic comedy is hinted at in the title. The plot is complicated enough to keep you guessing the outcome of the love triangle.
Each suitor has pros and cons and Myers forces the audience to identify with Jane as she makes tough choices. Screenwriting seems to be Meyer’s strong point. Her previous scripts include ‘Private Benjamin’ and ‘Father of the Bride’, which are both fine films. But her film really succeeds on the backs of her three lead performers.
The biggest reason for seeing ‘It’s Complicated’ is Alec Baldwin’s performance. He perfectly balances gravitas and humor in a role that could easily have been played as one dimensional by a lesser actor. He makes Jake seem slimy and likeable at the same time. His comic timing has been perfected by his years on ’30 Rock’ and ‘SNL’ as one of the best hosts ever — Schweddy balls anyone?
The biggest misstep of the film is the bland depiction of Jane’s children. They have absolutely no personality and are only there as pieces for the story to move around. It is a shame because the three main characters and Jane’s son-in-law Harlely – who is played well by John Krasinski—are funny and well-rounded characters. Meyers obviously lacks the grasp of younger people’s personalities. She missed a real opportunity with the second tier cast.
Meryl Streep gives her second great performance of 2009, the first being Julia Child in Nora Ephron’s ‘Julia and Julia’. Both movies have a strong connection in that they both focus on the lives of older women who are trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives. Jane Adler has her career figured out but her love life is in shambles. Julia Child has the opposite problem, her marriage is picturesque but she has no idea what to do with her time. Both films explore the consequences of buttoned-down heroines taking control of the lives and dealing with their problems head on. Maybe Streep’s next role will be a fifty-something who has both love and career problems.
In a bigger sense, both films –‘It’s Complicated’ in particular – are part the recent outcrop of romantic comedies starring over 50 actors that are a backlash against what has become a culture of immaturity. College has become a decade adventure and no job is truly secure, which leads to people who are well into their fifties are still trying to figure out what to do with their lives. There create conditions for movies like ‘It’s Complicated’ to reinvigorate the stale, McConaughey infested Rom-Com genre.
While still quite idyllic and fantastical, ‘It’s Complicated’ does deal frankly with sex and relationships involving older participants that usually put many people off as gross. The film is not quite as frank as ‘Knocked Up’ but it does have an air of reality that is refreshing. The film also doesn’t shy away from showing the aged human body as something other than an object of revulsion and fear. In my screening, when a shirtless, pudgy Alec Baldwin appeared on screen, a woman in the audience –who was probably expecting Robert Pattinson — yelled out ‘Ew! He is so gross!’ In solidarity with the film, I quite loudly replied, ‘welcome to reality, ladies.’
