It's Complicated Reviews

I love this movie. It's not just another romantic comedy that ends typically, which is one of the reasons why I love it so much. Right from the beginning you can sense the tension between Jane and Jake, especially Agness thrown into the mix.

Meryl Streep is still one of the best actresses, and she proves it in this movie over and over again. Right from the start she gives us the full picture of her characters relationship with ex-husband.

Her relationship with her kids pretty much gives her a free pass on the infidelity angle, as she's a great mother and a really loveable character.

I love that it doesn't wrap everything up nice and neatly in the end either. Nancy Meyer's has definitely out done herself on this one.

Since Nancy Meyers had a decent track-record, I thought me and me wife should watch this one together and, as expected, we both enjoyed it. Of course, it was no masterpiece whatsoever but for, a romantic-comedy, it was quite entertaining and more efficient than most of the rom-com released nowadays. Eventually, even though the story was rather generic, the whole thing worked most of all thanks thanks to the very nice chemistry between  Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. Indeed, Streep remains the best actress around, she can play any genre, even a rather light comedy like this one and she delivered once again a very solid performance. On the other hand, even though Alec Baldwin never managed to convince as a leading man, ever since his successful turn in '30 Rock', he became suddenly a comic actor and never looked back. And indeed, in this movie, I thought he was rather hilarious. Concerning Nancy Meyers, I think she got lucky with these actors as the material was in fact rather weak but it all worked fine at the end. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was still a decent romantic-comedy and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

It may not be all that complicated (and one may complain about the fact that the title was plagiarized from Facebook), but there's no doubt that it's sweet, entertaining and occasionally very funny. One could easily classify it as a "chick flick," but that's unfair when you consider the fact that men will very easily enjoy this as much as women. The men in the audience were laughing rather than wallowing in restlessness, so there has to be something about Nancy Meyers' latest film that captured their attention as well.

To be entirely fair, the first 20 minutes or so of IT'S COMPLICATED are a little clumsily staged. The set-up of the characters and the story isn't the most effective. However, IF you were lucky enough to have seen the trailer (which does a terrific job of explaining what the film is about) then you won't care about the poor initial exposition, because you'll already know what the movie's all about. Thankfully, once we get past the bump of those opening scenes, the film moves along nicely, with hardly a dull moment to be found. There are several big laughs to be found in IT'S COMPLICATED, not the least of which come from its three best sequences. The first involves a doctor's visit to a hotel room, with the riotous punchline being a line by Meryl Streep's character, Jane, that references semen. The second involves several scenes in which the effects of pot-smoking are taken to places we've hardly ever seen explored in comedies. You would think that all of those dumb, laugh-free high school comedies would've exhausted all possible attempts at "weed jokes," but Meyers proves that prediction wrong. Finally, there's a scene involving a webcam that I will say NOTHING about because I'd hate to spoil the hilarity.

Aside from the effectiveness in the comedic department, the thing about IT'S COMPLICATED that truly won me over was its treatment during the last act of the emotional turmoils that can come as a result of divorce. As I had been watching the first half of the film, I got the impression that the movie would simply focus on the love triangle, and that it wouldn't explore the effects of the things that were happening on Jane's three "kids"... and I say "kids," because the three of them are actually adults in their 20s, and therein lies one of the strongest assets of this film. If these three had been actual CHILDREN, it would've been very easy to cinematically "manipulate" the emotional roughness of the situation, because the mere fact that they were kids would make the audience feel for them. But since they are mature adults who understand everything, the film is forced to have scenes in which the characters must have adult conversations about the dire effects of divorce. The brilliance of these final scenes towards the end of the film lies in the fact that the script recognizes that even people in their 20s can still feel emotionally affected as a result of having divorced parents, even if the divorce took place ten years ago. The fact that the performances by Meryl Streep and the three actors who play her two daughters and son are so great during these scenes makes it all work even better. While Meyers' hand at comedy is certainly adept, these scenes are indicative that if she tried her hand at full-on drama, the results probably wouldn't be bad in the least bit.

Apparently, Streep decided to have 2009 be the year in which she'd play characters who were awesome at cooking delicious stuff. While there's no doubt that her pitch-perfect performance in JULIE & JULIA is the one for which she deserves award recognition, you can't deny the strength of her work here, even if it's a performance she could've easily done in her sleep. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for her two co-stars. Alec Baldwin is a good actor, but he's miscast here. He did such great work at being a hot-tempered, "guy's guy" cop in 2006 in THE DEPARTED, but here, he doesn't fare as well at being the desperate ex-husband. On a similar line, Steve Martin constantly has this look on his face that seems like he's ready to burst into one of his more slapstick-y comedic roles rather than the overly serious character he's asked to play here. Despite the so-so performances from the two guys, there's no doubt that Streep and the actors playing her kids are wonderful, and the same can be said of the hilarious John Krasinski, who plays the fiance of one of Jane's daughters. Krasinski is a master of comedic reacting, which is no doubt the reason why he was picked as the character who "discovers" what's going on early in the film. There are several scenes in which he's got the tough task of matching wits with Streep, and he handles it remarkably well. And he's so cute. :)

IT'S COMPLICATED may not be a perfect film (or even above-average), but there's no doubt that it's the perfect film for Christmas Day, when I'm less in the mood for a challenging dramatic experience a la UP IN THE AIR and more in the mood for unabashed fun. There's so much funny material to be found here, and the fact that the last few scenes add a more serious, honest tone to the film's dramatic component makes it even better.

Since its release, this film has received huge criticism from reviewers that keep saying that this is 'just another romantic comedy' and, to be honest, I have to agree with them. There were some brilliant moments but there were some others that I just didn't like. For example, the film unfortunately shows that the sex between the two aging people is more important with their personal lives as in like how they feel about the situations they've got themselves into. Also, seeing Alec Baldwin almost completely naked really put me off it as well! (haha). Good qualities, however, were that I think the characters (well of what we knew of them anyway) were good.


When attending their son's college graduation, a couple reignites the spark in their relationship...but the complicated fact is they're divorced and he's remarried and she has another man in her life who wants her. Over the years, Meryl Streep keeps on starring in romantic-comedies and it is always good to see her in one. Where I appreciate her in this genre is that she plays different kinds of characters so brilliantly in different life situations and that is something that you can hardly get with romantic-comedies. I have thought this for a very long time but Meryl Streep really is a very striking woman for her age and I guess Jane's character was made for Streep to portray. I wouldn't really call myself a fan of Alec Baldwin but I wouldn't call him a bad actor either. However, in It's Complicated he plays a character that I hadn't really seen him in before and I don't think it suited him that well because its like he was playing that really charming and seductive kind of character so I just don't think that suited Alec Baldwin at all. Steve Martin plays a serious character? Wow! He actually did a great job. I must admit that the characters do demonstrate quite well of some real-life situations with living separately from someone after being married to them for over a decade. I mean, it is mad to go back with someone after being divorced for 10 years especially when one is already remarried to someone younger!


Nancy Meyers is a director who just sticks to romantic-comedies. I think that most directors of romantic-comedies are like these too seeing as they pretty much always connect. As I said earlier in the review, that Nancy this time focuses on the sex between the couple than how they are feeling and their normal lives. The script is almost like almost the same as every script in romantic-comedy: soppy, sometimes quite cheesy and sometimes very original.


Overall, It's Complicated is just another romantic-comedy that ultimately focuses on the sex rather than the development of the characters and the message it tries to send. It is more for middle-aged people and girls than for men, to be honest.

很輕鬆一部片，個人覺得想探討熟男女面對離婚(失婚)後生活態度與愛情生活，片中的烘焙坊與廚房真是夢幻，在這部片中Meryl Streep身份感覺可以呼應上一部美味關係身份呀！

Film wordt helemaal gedragen door Meryl Streep. Is heerlijk om met een groep te kijken. Echt gelachen.