It's Complicated

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This movie is like a good piece of toast. Buttery sourdough toast. There's not very much substance or nutrition to it, but sometimes you just sit down and get all cozy and enjoy a buttery piece of sourdough toast. It's Complicated is an average dumb comedy movie that's so much fun to watch for literally no reason. maybe it's the fantasy. maybe it's the upbeat Hanz Zimmer bossa nova music. maybe it's the idea of working at a cute bakery, living in a multi-million dollar home, having three girly friends to spill drama with, and having a sTeAmY lOvE tRiAnGlE as a 50 something year old. But I watch this movie all the time when I'm feeling down or just want to be happy and cozy and giggle a little. This movie brings me so much joy and I don't even know why. I don't know whether to recommend this movie or not. But I can say, it makes me very happy and I smile every time I watch it. Like eating a good piece of toast.

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source: It's Complicated

This script was mailed in from a writer having a mental block. The plot is about as simple as any romantic comedy ever written. Middle aged husband with kids dumps old wife for younger model. Starts having more kids and then realizes maybe he had made a mistake as the young one is making him unhappy. Then he meets his ex-wife for a weekend of fun like they have not had in years. Of course there is a third wheel who is romancing the Ex. The kids are wondering who is craziest. I vote for the script writers. They must have been nuts to write this trash. Maybe they should watch something complicated to find out how simple and awful this one is.

The set-up for "It's Complicated" seemed promising - middle aged woman (Meryl Streep) who thinks she has her post divorce life figured out finds herself "the other woman" when she starts an affair with her ex husband (Alec Baldwin). Meryl Streep does all things well including comedy and Alec Baldwin is the perfect fit for a character who is full of himself and conveniently self delusional. Throw in Steve Martin and John Krasinksi (who mines comic gold each week on "The Office") and I was expecting a diverting 120 minutes. Instead this movie irritated me continuously for 2 hours. What went wrong? I am going to cut the actors some slack and lay the blame at the feet of director and writer Nancy Meyers. She tends to write movies that have a thin veneer of neurotic self-entitlement. Sometimes it works or is at least tolerable as in "The Holiday" but here she lays it on a bit thick. Streep's Jane is the type of woman who has feng shui'd her life into submission, watches "The Hills" with her daughter, and makes ice cream when she can't sleep ( funny, all I get are bags under my eyes). Her romantic dilemma is a choice between two men - an architect who lost his wife to another man on a couples bike tour of Italy and the ex who lives under the twin threat of his younger wife's fascist ovulation schedule and a demon step-child. Cliché on top of cliché that eventually eclipses the acting. Speaking of acting. What a waste to have Jim Krasinksi in this movie. His role as Jane's future son-in-law is to wince, shrug, smile and sigh. Note to Nancy Meyers, facial expressions and body language are only the beginning of emoting and not the final product. Last note and then I will stop beating up on the movie, I promise. I don't know what Jane's three adult children are supposed to represent but they are harpy, over emotional and creepy in a Stepford sort of way. As a child of divorce I can tell you I would've ended up in therapy if anyone ever suggested snuggling in bed with my adult siblings as comfort from a divorce that happened ten years prior.

Actually, the film started off a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be, but sickening bourgeoise tosh it is none the less. If your parents are 65+ and are the boring middle class, never really did anything exciting kind, then they'll quite like this movie. For me, someone that's got a bit of class about them, this is tosh of the most exquisite kind. And why so, you ask. Oh gosh, don't allow me to bore myself by discussing the extremely weak narrative of this "story". Divorcees have an affair, and it gets complicated. That's what we got from the trailer and the title, and there ain't much more to it. So what of the acting. It has Meryl Streep, Alex Baldwin, Steve Martin and the "funny" guy from The Office (US). Funnily enough all of these actors have one thing in common, they're all over rated. And there was another star in the movie too, not quite sure if the credit should go to Colgate or McLeans but it certainly was the act of smiling. The Office guy being particularly guilty of this. I wish I could get paid millions for pulling an inane smile for a few on-screen minutes. What kind of schmucks do they take us for? Of course the other actors pail into insignificance, as does the whole film after the first 30 mins, at which point it simply becomes as unwelcome as your second bout of piles. Good production values, awful everything else, unless you love smiles and schmaltz. And if you were hoping that any of the main actors may live up to their reputations / bank balances, they don't.

I saw It's Complicated in NY at a FYC screening for guild members. I must say I had some reservations before watching this film since romantic comedy is usually not my cup of tea. Plus the trailer did not look exceptionally interesting... That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this very entertaining and appealing movie helmed by a veteran Nancy Meyers. Although Meryl Streep's performance here is not as showy as in Julie & Julia, her subtle yet plausible comedic acting as a confused divorcée is pitch-perfect in every scene. It's a no brainer to assume that she will be competing against herself at Golden Globe. I am sure this film will be a commercial success and it will solidify Meryl's Oscar chance in March. (way over due!) Also, I am almost certain Baldwin will earn an Oscar nod. Thank you Universal for the invitation!

The first thing wrong with the movie is the title. "It's complicated" is a lousy title. Weak. Indicative of what the movie will be. From the very first scene the movie struggles to look like SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE but it isn't. Everyone here is so unreal, fake and so successful! It doesn't make sense. Another big problem is the casting. Where on Earth did Nancy Meyers get the 3 kids of Baldwin-Streep? I think I could look at their pictures for hours, go out on the streets and meet them and I wouldn't recognize them! Insignificant. The moment they are off the screen I already forgot how they look like. In the extras of the DVD of SGG Nancy Meyers praises herself for having casted Amanda Peet (the daughter of the Diane Keaton character) because "Amanda looks like a daughter". Instead in this movie the children of Baldwin-Streep look like 3 idiots and that's all. Detestable. Is is a little hard for the audience to believe that Baldwin-Streep are having so much sex if on screen they don't even kiss each other on the cheek! Nicholson and Keaton did a great jog under that aspect in SGG. In the extra of the DVD all the actors were happy about how "great" everyone was and how much fun they had shooting the movie. I need Katherine Hepburn here: "show me a happy set and I will show you a dull movie".

Nancy Meyers is famous for tapping into a largely ignored market: middle-aged women. She acknowledges that women don't cease to exist after they grow older than Jessica Alba (anyone older than that loses their sex appeal in the eyes of movie studios, and that's the only thing that keeps audiences interested in these sorts of movies). I am not a member of this market. However, I am open to movies to which I am not a targeted member. That, and I love Meryl Streep. I have seen Nancy Meyers' previous effort, "Something's Gotta Give," a movie that started out okay, but ended up being an overlong disaster that I hated. Still, this movie sounded promising, especially with Streep, who has never made a bad movie, so I checked it out. While it is certainly better than "Something's Gotta Give," it is nowhere near a complete success. Jane (Meryl Streep) is a divorced mother of three, and an empty nester. Years after her divorce, she's finally gotten her life back together (or at least she thinks she does). However, her life is going to get a little...complicated. Her ex, Jake (Alec Baldwin) has just realized that he is still in love with Jane, and they ensue in an affair (which, ironically, was one of the reasons why they divorced in the first place). At the same time, she's also attracted the attention of her architect, Adam (Steve Martin). Now Jane has to balance these two romances out, and complications ensue. Meryl Streep is widely recognized as one of the greatest actresses alive (and in my opinion, one of the best who ever lived). Yet with 13 Oscar nods, she hasn't done much in the way of comedy. She got a taste of it in last year's "Mamma Mia," but with this film, she gets to do some scenes that are openly funny. And she shows everyone that she can be just as successful in a comedy as a drama. Many of the film's comic scenes wouldn't be as funny without her. Her co-stars, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, are no stranger to being funny, and Streep manages to keep up with them. Speaking of, Baldwin and Martin are on the same level as Streep. Baldwin is equally good in the comic scenes as well the dramatic scenes, and so is Martin (surprisingly...he hasn't gotten much chance to do drama. Hopefully, this performance will signal a change, because he's got some good dramatic chops as well as comic aptitude). Had this film been better directed, they could have been looking at some Oscar nods. Special mention has to go to John Krasinski, because even though he became famous for the ultra-understated humor of "The Office," he is also great at more energetic humor too. Lake Bell has little to do than be a post-trophy wife that is often referenced, but not seen. Nancy Meyers may have tapped into the market for middle aged women, but she's only at the top because she's the only one in it. Meyers is not an especially great screenwriter or director. The dialogue is nothing special, and her direction is flat, which renders the drama more inert than it should be. The comedy only works because of the actors, not Meyers; this should be construed as a compliment to Streep, Baldwin and Martin, since the comedy is not adequately set up. Many of the plot points exist because Meyers is trying to follow the formula of "romantic comedy," even if what happens doesn't make sense. If you like Meyers' films, it's a film to check out. If not, I don't think its worth your time.