I didn’t know what to expect when I went to see It’s Complicated. After all, Meryl Streep hasn’t bet the better part of her career on being a comedienne extraordinaire. She is
predominately known as a serious actress, though since 2006, she has dipped her toe in the comedy and musical fields with The Devil Wears Prada, Julie and Julia, and Momma Mia! to great success (though, personally, I thought the latter was dreadful). But in It’s Complicated she comes out swinging.

The movie is written by Nancy Meyers, who has proven herself to be the current queen of adult comedies for “older” women. Her prior films, What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give, and The Holiday were all enjoyable fair to varying degrees. What Women Want was the most successful, primarily due to Mel Gibson’s star power, as well as a funny script, despite the unsexy Helen Hunt being cast as the “sexy” female lead. Something’s Gotta Give was targeted towards a slightly older audience with the casting of Jack Nicolson and Diane Keaton. That film was very successful commercially and critically, with Oscar nods for both leads. The Holiday was much less financially successful than its predecessors for reasons unknown to me. It had Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, and Jack Black. I thought that was a pretty strong team! But reviews for the film were average, often criticizing Diaz’s performance as annoying (this is true, though if you love the movie like me, you get used to it and fall in love with the stories of the two women).

So…..It’s Complicated successfully gets back to the audience demographics that Something’s Gotta Give focused on: a slightly older female audience. Though speaking in generalities does sometimes leave important facts out such as the fact that my dad loved the movie primarily because Alec Baldwin was so hilarious. Streep and Baldwin play a divorced couple who have come to get along amicably ten years after he left her for a younger woman. Steve Martin plays Streep’s sweet architect who gently pursues her because he is in the dark about the exes’ rekindled affair.

This movie has tons of laughs. Most of them are due to Baldwin’s almost naked body (and boy has he packed on the pounds over years. Nowhere do we see the stud that played Jack Ryan!). But Streep holds her own with her wit and timing with her delivery. If you have never been married, divorced, etc… you will still enjoy this movie due to its story. You care about the characters, even the characters that are underwritten, such as Martin’s. He does, though, have a shining moment with Streep when they hit their comic stride in a marijuana-themed episode. It was so hilarious I had to catch my breath.

The icing on the comedic cake in this film is John Krasinski, as Streep’s son-in-law. His screen time is brief, but when he finds out about the affair and then when he finds out about the pot, it is he who steals the veterans’ thunder. Do we have a new king of silver screen comedy on our hands? I think so. Get this kid off of the small screen and onto the big screen already. Without Steve Carrell…

Filed under: Comedy, Romantic Comedy, Steve Martin, silver screen by admin