Its Complicated (2009)

Review:

Like Bergman’s “Scenes from a Marriage” or Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986) Nancy Meyer’s “Its Complicated” suggests that love runs very deep, even in a troubled or divorced marriage. Unfortunately, “Its Complicated” is not a masterpiece like the other two, but it’s still good for a laugh.

Meryl Streep plays Jane, a ten year divorcee who has not yet found her sea legs for dating. She lives alone in a beautiful villa in California. For a living she owns and runs a successful bakery. Alec Baldwin is her enticing ex-husband Jake who has married a younger woman and is presently unhappy with the marriage. While away at their son’s graduation in New York City, circumstances allow for Jane and Jake to meet at a hotel bar, have some drinks, ruminate about old times, and inevitably they have sex.

This pairing startles Jane who has now become ‘the other woman.’ Initially she resists Jake’s seductions back in California but is soon convinced that this affair could be a welcome change to her perfunctory routines and static sex life. And then of course, the love triangle becomes complete when Jane’s architect Adam (Steve Martin) elicits a romantic interest in her. Now the question becomes clear: Can Jane rehabilitate her failed marriage or should she move on, once and for all?

Alec Baldwin does a tremendous job in “Its Complicated.” Usually Meryl Streep is an indomitable presence in her films, but Baldwin here gives her a run for her money. Steve Martin also does a good job here in playing the nice and low key Adam. I like Steve Martin so much more when he pairs down his energy. When he’s acting in a comedic frenzy, I usually end up feel dazed and weary of him. John Krasinksi also does a good job of playing a son-in-law to be who knows more than he should.

As Romcoms go, I find movies like “Its Complicated” more interesting. When they deal with middle aged people rather than twenty somethings, films tend to hit upon deeper issues of love and fidelity. If they are written well, middle aged characters tend to have a better grasp on life and what it means to need and want and lose love. They have a certain earnest quality that seems trite in the young, beautiful faces of a typical Romcom. This is why I prefer Woody Allen’s romantic comedies to almost all others.

“Its Complicated” is fun and enjoyable. You can see where it’s heading from a mile away but if you can overlook that and just enjoy some good ol’ Alec Baldwin, you’ll have a nice time.

Rating:

On a scale of one to Casablanca, this film is a “My Cousin Vinny”

Rationalization:
You know when you’re at home and its raining out, you don’t really want to read so you turn on the TV knowing that there certainly will be something on to appease your lethargy and you got to HBO or Showtime and there’s a movie on and you go “Oh yea, this movie” and though you’re not that committed to the idea of watching it, you get sucked in and wind up watching the whole thing? That’s this movie.