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Two-time Academy Award® winner Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin star in this hilarious look at marriage, divorce and everything in between. Jane (Streep) has three grown kids, a thriving Santa Barbara bakery and an amicable relationship with her ex-husband, Jake (Baldwin). Now, a decade after their divorce, an innocent dinner between Jane and Jake turns into the unimaginable - an affair. Caught in the middle of their rekindled romance are Jake?s young wife and Adam (Martin), a recently divorced architect who starts to fall for Jane. Could love be sweeter the second time around? It?s? complicated! From writer/director Nancy Meyers comes the comedy that critics call "laugh-out-loud funny" (Rex Reed, The New York Observer).
It's delightful to see Meryl Streep come into her own as a romantic comedian in her later career years--after all the accolades, the Oscars, the serious-as-marble dramatic roles. Streep is in fact a true cutup, as she has demonstrated in films like Mamma Mia and Julie & Julia--and she gets the guy. So if Nancy Meyers's It's Complicated is perhaps a bit facile in the plot department, it's saved by a splendid romp of a performance by Streep (as Jane), along with her two leading men, Alec Baldwin (Jane's ex-husband, Jake) and Steve Martin (her supposed boyfriend, Adam). Meyers, as she did in Something's Gotta Give and Baby Boom, turns notions of over-the-hilldom--at least for women--on their ear. Streep's Jane is a contented, affluent divorcée with excellent taste in furnishings, happily about to preside over an empty nest and feeling just fine about it. Who should bump into, and ruin, this perfect solitude but Jane's ex, Jake, played to a pompous (and hilarious) fare-thee-well by Baldwin. "Turns out I'm a bit of a slut," chirps the sexually awakened Jane. The beauty of It's Complicated is that it really isn't all that complicated--its chemistry depends on the wonderful actors (including the supporting cast of John Krasinski, Lake Bell, Mary Kay Place, and Rita Wilson) and the oft-forgotten reality that people over 25 can have great sex, and fall head over heels. --A.T. Hurley
Stills from It's Complicated (Click for larger image)
Customer Review:A31I3HXMD5H1EL
Rating: 
Summary: Nancy Meyers, Meryl Streep, and a Witty Script!
Maybe it's because I'm an aging Babyboomer, but I love the directorial work of Nancy Meyers, who understands our generation better than nearly anybody...and when she writes a wonderfully wise comedy, and is teamed with America's finest actress, Meryl Streep, you have the potential for something really special. While "It's Complicated" may not rank as the finest film in either woman's career, in a year of overblown sequels and overwrought dramas, it is a breath of fresh air, and is certainly one of my favorite films of 2010.
The plot is something many of us can understand...years after a divorce, the ex-wife (Streep), facing an 'empty nest' as the last of her children leaves home, is seduced, casually, at first, by her ex-husband (Alec Baldwin, an old pro at combining smarmy and sincere). Because she's vulnerable, she 'gives in', despite the fact that the break-up put her into therapy, and he's been married for 10 years to the 'hot' younger woman (Lake Bell), he dumped her for. She knows their 'fling' is wrong, and she has met a really wonderful guy who likes her (Steve Martin, fabulous in a surprisingly subdued performance), but the ex-husband feels so good having his 'secret affair', he begins aggressively pursuing her. Back in Hollywood's 'Golden Age', we might have rooted for Baldwin and Streep to reconcile (consider "The Philadelphia Story" and it's musical clone, "High Society"), but Meyers understands today's far more complex issues, and, with kindness and humor, explores the impact of the couple's actions on Streep's children, her friends, and even Martin (in a wild laptop sequence). The resolution is very satisfying, I'm happy to say!
The supporting cast is first-rate (as in all of Nancy Meyers' films), especially the adult children (Hunter Parrish, Caitlin Fitzgerald, and Zoe Kazan), and Streep's son-in-law-to-be (the scene-stealing John Krasinski). And the women of the film are a 'Who's Who' of terrific veteran actresses (including Rita Wilson, Mary Kay Place, and Nora Dunn).
As for Meryl Streep...the older she gets, the more beautiful, sensual, and funny she becomes...She's worth the love of both men, and more!
"It's Complicated" is great fun...Thanks, Nancy Meyers!!
Customer Review:AGQY11NLQJ2JL
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Summary: You may call it "vindication" or "righting a wrong"
While the ex-husband moves on with his life, the mid-aged ex-wife played by Meryl Streep focuses on every aspect of her life but love! When both attend their son's graduation, it seems as though the old spark comes back to life. The performances of Streep, Baldwin, and Steve Martin make a simple plot sweet and a bit funny. See if reliving the past will be a good idea or not!
Customer Review:A19ZXK9HHVRV1X
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Summary: uneven script buoyed by fun performances
Nancy Meyers makes smart, funny romantic comedies for thinking adults. Her 2003 "Something's Gotta' Give," with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, was a near-classic of the genre. Though her latest, "It's Complicated," with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, is nowhere near as good as that earlier film, it still manages to tickle the funny bone (from time to time) while providing us with a chance to watch some of Hollywood's most seasoned players still performing at the peak of their power.
Like Keaton, Streep plays an attractive upper-class middle-aged woman who's suffering from empty-nest syndrome and a nonexistent love life. Long divorced from the husband (Baldwin) who cheated on her, Jane has pretty much given up ever having much of a life of her own beyond her grown children and the restaurant she owns and operates in scenic Santa Barbara. Much to her amazement, however, she finds herself rekindling a romance with the very man who left her to marry a younger woman ten years earlier. Further complicating the issue is that Jane is also beginning to have feelings for an architect (Steve Martin) she's hired to help her remodel her house.
As in too many romantic comedies, Meyers' characters live in a squeaky-clean, white-bread world of magazine-layout homes, upscale restaurants, pricey therapy sessions, and endless wine-sipping. And there are times when the cutesiness does get a bit out of hand, particularly in the giggly, you-go-girl scenes between Jane and her requisite bevy of gossipy girlfriends (including an underused Mary Kay Place), who relate their latest romantic escapades all the while bemoaning just what cads men as a whole are. And the secondary characters - mainly the divorced couple's three children and their too-good-to-be-true son-in-law - aren't particularly well developed or played (this includes John Krasinski and Hunter Parrish, who are both much better in "The Office" and "Weeds," respectively).
But Streep, Baldwin and Martin are so confident and relaxed and play off one another with such alacrity and skill that we're pretty much willing to forgive any and all imperfections just to be able to revel in their performances. Add to that Meyers' insights into just how complicated love and romance can be for the aging Baby Boomer set and you have the makings of a slick and enjoyable - if occasionally strained - comedy for grownups.
Customer Review:A140XH16IKR4B0
Rating: 
Summary: It's repulsive
Lots of films play up adultery for a laugh. I'm fine with that - deception and selfishness are part and parcel of the human condition But few films fail to bring laughter from the pain as much as this one. Meryl Streep plays Janey, the wildly successful owner of a pastry empire, divorced 10 years prior by her husband, Jake (Alec Baldwin), for a younger woman. While celebrating their youngest son's college graduation, they have a fling that threatens not only Jake's new family, but also Janey's precarious sense of personhood, their kids' emotional health and the fragile personality of a friend. Each of Janey and Jake's utterly narcissistic decisions is deeply wounding to someone they love. Worse, friends and advisors inexplicably encourage this. It's hard to make a comedy out of that kind of recklessness. Streep mugs and sighs her way through film. It was amazing to see how many times " shows up in the subtitles when she is on screen. Steve Martin acts even more rigidly in this film than in most. During his one bit of buffoonery, playing himself while high, I couldn't help think "Let's get small!" from his old comedy routines. A hard-to-believe "damaged children of divorce" theme was tacked on for pathetic effect, as though kids in their 20s are still getting over a split that occurred ten years earlier.
A thoroughly unfunny, unentertaining and thoughtless film that had my stomach in knots all the way through.
Customer Review:A1X051SWVKW4JT
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Summary: Quite Nice and Relatable
"It's Complicated" is a movie starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin ,and Steve Martin focuses on the lives of a wealthy divorced couple and the complicated relationship that ensues when they have an affair after being apart for 10 years.
Meryl Streep plays Jane and is fantastic as a talented cook and owner of a pastry shop. Jane decides to build an addition to her house while dealing with the idea that, because her kids have moved out, she is alone. She ends up getting sauced with her ex while they are in New York for their son's graduation and one thing leads to another. In the meantime, Jane's architect, Adam, seems quite nice and relatable. Adam and Jane go on one of the funniest dates I have seen in a while. The big question is "What is going to happen in this strange love triangle?"
All of these characters are flawed but extremely likable, even the slightly neurotic wife of Jane's ex got some sympathy from me. I like that all of the characters are middle aged, not too crazy, and could be real people. The plot doesn't involve a seriously far-fetched cougar story line or insane and wacky antics. My only issue with this film, however, is that it did tend to drag about around the middle. If you can get through it without being too bored, I think you'll like the movie. (PS: It helps if you're a woman, too. My husband was more focused on his laptop than watching the movie.)
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