It's Complicated: Funny and Resonant in a Simple Way

Nancy Meyers is a woman I respect. She writes, produces and directs her own films. She revolutionized the romantic-comedy genre, both making them actually about something and writing characters who are flawed, successful, and sometimes near or past middle age. Her films are fearlessly romantic and realistically funny. No contrived situations or forced jokes. 

So you can see why I was excited to see It's Complicated. All of this and it has a great cast: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. This movie certainly isn't her best but it's also not her worst. My ranking would go:

1. Something's Gotta Give (her masterpiece)

2. The Holiday (my personal favorite)

3. It's Complicated

4. What Women Want

5. The Parent Trap 

Jane (Streep) and Jake (Baldwin) have been divorced for ten years and are still trying to figure out their relationships with each other and their three kids and one son=in-law. Jake's marriage to his second wife isn't going too well while Jane is also figuring out her love life. At their son's graduation, they reminisce about old times and realize how much chemistry they have. One thing leads to another and they sleep together which leads to a full-fledged affair. Things get even more complicated when Jake's second wife (Lake Bell randomly) wants to have a baby and Jane begins to get courted by her charming architect Adam (Martin). 

I read somewhere that Meryl Streep was surprised that, at her age, she's offered the lead in romantic-comedies. While this isn't one of Meryl Streep's best roles, she looks like she's having the time of her life and the feeling is infectious. Everything she is feeling just becomes what we, the audience, feels. She's a very funny woman, a symbol of forever youth and jubilance. Never once does she look tired (unless the script calls for it) and her chemistry with both of her male leads is fantastic. What took these three people this long to do a film together is beyond me. 

Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin do what they do best. Baldwin's Jake is a charming rascal who really wouldn't deserve Jane if it weren't for their history. The best thing about the movie: it wants you to root for Martin's Adam as the "One She Ends Up With". Steve Martin and Meryl Streep's scenes together are just so wonderful which is a nice contrast to the guilty, forbidden feel of her scenes with Baldwin. 

Would I recommend this movie? Well, if you like the Nancy Meyers brand of film and/or any of the three lead actors, you will enjoy this movie. But it's nothing spectacular. It's enjoyable but that's about it.