It's Complicated

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.

6/10