Review of It's Complicated (2009) by Emily K — 26 Nov 2010

Let me get this out of the way first off - Something's Gotta Give this ain't - not even close.

However, you really can't go to far astray with Streep - who could make folding laundry into an oscar worthy performance. Here she is given a nice juicy role as a divorced empty nester who has taken what live has given her and made a nice comfortable life for herself, both financially and emotionally. 10 years after her divorce, she's finally come to terms with it, but then her ex, in a wonderful, earnest yet comic performance by Alec Baldwin, re-enters her life.

That is the central setup - how Streep and Baldwin circle around each other, reconnecting in spite of, or perhaps because of, all the old baggage. Each knows the other better than anyone else could, so they know how to push each other's buttons.

There are a couple of requisite scenes of the "girl's club", all laughter and sexy banter... I wonder, does this stuff really happen in real life? Or is this just a way for script writers to inject humour into the film?

Along with the "girl's club", this type of film is required to show "the children" - cardboard cutouts who you forget in an instant (except to notice that the young son is in Weeds) - who are there just as filler - showing concern and perhaps hinting at a "hurt" caused by the divorce (ho hum).

Although I will mention that the performance of the son in law is for the most part tasty, if a bit too touchy-feely.

The complicated part of the title comes when Steve Martin, the archetect in charge of Streeps home remodel and a divorcee himself, becomes interested in Streep. There are some very nice, natural moments between the two, but I found Martin's overall performance to be oddly off somehow - trying for the poignant "I'm still hurt" riff, but it somehow just doesn't gel.

There is an extended scene involving a party where Streep decides to take a toke of a little something that Baldwin had given her earlier - she immediatly becomes stoned, and when she offers some to Martin, her date for the evening... let's just say the writer should be shot for subjecting the audience to this lame and obvious attempt at levity.

In reality, this isn't a "bad" film - how could it be with Mz Oscar in a role that she can have some fun with, and truth be told the film is "right" whenever Baldwin is on screen, but while there are certain "adult" truths revealed here, I couldn't help but thinking that they always seem to make this type of film about upper class, successful people - I wonder how this would have played if Streep was a struggling single mom in middle America, Baldwin a car salesman just holding on to his job, and Martin maybe a roto-rooter guy. Just wondering....