My biggest beef with Nancy Meyers' films is that she has the tendency to leave us poor men in the dust. We're either hopeless or clueless. I just never got the feeling that she has any sort of ear for male dialogue. By contrast, a writer like Nick Hornby who has been accused in the past of not being able to write women wrote arguably the strongest female lead of the year in
An Education
. Here, Meyers does her best writing of men yet in a film that frankly succeeds by the skin of it's teeth and the strength of it's leads.
The incomparable Meryl Streep plays Jane, an almost unnaturally successful baker with a huge glamourous house. The house is an issue for me. It feels like it's there solely to be used as a plot device, and it definitely is. Jane also has an ex-husband, Jake, played with his usual brilliant comic timing by Alec Baldwin. Jake is married to the same woman he cheated on Jane with 10 years prior, the much younger and somewhat looney Agness. Jane is just finally starting to get ahold of her life, but as is to be expected, things don't quite go as planned.
Jake is in the middle of one of those midlife crisis things. He's no longer in love with the woman he married, burdened by the many needs of a parent that he thought he was past now that his other kids have already grown up. During a trip to NY to celebrate their son's graduation, Jake and Jane revisit old memories. Drinks get drank, nature starts rising, and the two fall into old habits...and into bed. For Jake, Jane is like his own personal shot of B-12. She invigorates him, makes him feel younger again, ironically given their ages, and it's like they never left. For Jane, it's a confusing act that goes against how she's been her entire life. She's now the homewrecker she and her friends always hated, but damn if it ain't fun!
It's Complicated walks a fine line between madcap hilarity and sitcom cliche, and most of it starts when Jane meets her architect, Adam(Steve Martin). Adam is building a new wing onto her house because...well, I guess it's just not quite huge enough. She needs a kitchen that can rival Julia Child. Doesn't quite ring true, but that's a minor quibble. Adam represents a potential fresh start for Jane. A genuinely good guy, without Jake's bloviating and smugness. The two hit it off like gangbusters, only confusing her situation even more.
Meryl Streep could find depth and nuance out of reading the phone book. It's not often that we get to see her playing "the other woman", but she pulls it off with genuine ease. Apparently she can do whatever she puts her mind to. She's sexier and funnier than ever, and when she and Alec Baldwin are together it makes for one wild ride. Baldwin does what he does best, playing the overgrown big lug with a big ego and even bigger strut. Jake's enthusiasm for Jane is infectious, and you can see how these could have once been in love. I was less convinced by the pairing of Jane and Adam, and that's no knock on Steve Martin. His character just seems like more of a bland outline of a "decent guy" than a genuine person. He does everything right, gets hurt at just the right moments, and basically stands as a less interesting but acceptable option to Jake. Ok, not totally uninteresting. He does know how to get high, and seeing Steve Martin and Meryl Streep stoned out of their minds is as funny as it sounds. Definitely one of the film's highest notes. I can also say that I finally liked John Krasinsky in something not on TV. Watching him stumble around as Jane's future son-in-law who finds himself knowing more than he ever hoped to about Jane and Jake is an absolute riot.
There's a lot to like here. Meyers is mining some of the same material she explored in 2003's
Something's Gotta Give
, which I liked but felt somewhat disconnected from. Her point there seemed to be to highlight the burgeoning "cougar" generation while simultaneously crucifying men who date younger women, and I found it irritating. It's Complicated has no such ideas. It's just plain funny. Nothing complicated about that.
6/10
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