Here’s the review of the first of the movies we saw today. Julie liked it more than I did even though I did like much of It’s Complicated.”
It’s Complicated (Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, John Krasinski) – I am conflicted about It’s Complicated. As you would expect, the acting is impeccable. Three exceptional actors ply their craft perfectly. She is Jane, a late-50s divorcee, luxury bakery owner, and mother of three grown kids. Jake (Baldwin) is the cad of an ex-husband who remarried a much younger woman, Agness (played by Lake Bell) but who remains close to the kids and even to Jane. Martin plays Adam, the architect who has designed Jane’s dream home addition, which includes the kitchen she always wanted (a nod to her turn as Julia Child in Julie & Julia). When the whole family goes to New York for the youngest child’s graduation, the chick flick begins. The kids go off to a party, leaving Jane to dine by herself in the hotel restaurant/bar. Jake is there alone, too, since his wife and her precocious son conveniently stayed home when the kid got sick. Surprise! Jane and Jake end up drinking and eating at the bar, having a good old time and landing in the sack. The PG bedroom scenes are the best in the movie.
As the trailer depicts, the two start an unusual affair, she feeling guilt, he having second thoughts about his new marriage. Jane confides in her best friends (played by all-star veterans Rita Wilson, Mary Kay Place and Alexandra Wentworth), who are totally superfluous to the film, and her shrink, all of whom encourage her to pursue her indiscretion. Enter Adam, a wild and sensitive guy, as the nice guy Jane needs. He and Baldwin are polar opposites. By now, we all know where the film is headed.
So what’s not to like? Plenty. Writer/director Nancy Meyers hates philandering men. Fine. So why is Jane’s character painted so sympathetically? She’s doing the same thing to Agness that broke up her marriage and sent her into a 10-year skid. Meyers, who also directed chick flicks What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give, and The Holiday, lets the movie lag for almost 20 minutes in the middle. I wanted to scream: Move it along! The film doesn’t hit its stride until 75 minutes in, propelled by an unlikely scene where Jane and Adam share a joint and make fools of themselves at a party. Lastly, just when you think the movie is going to give you an unconventional ending, it doesn’t. I adore the actors, like the genre, bought the premise, and ultimately was disappointed. See what you think.