Review Tuesday: 'it's Complicated'

Today’s ‘Review Tuesday’. Romantic comedy’s nowhere near my favourite movie genre. But I rented the 2009 romcom it’s Complicated [1, 2] due to its cast: Meryl Streep’s a fantastic actress. I love Alex Baldwin in 30 Rock. And Steve Martin’s Steve Martin. Naturally the plot of it’s Complicated is complicated. Jane Adler (Streep) and Jake Adler (Baldwin) are ten years divorced, and Jake’s re-married a much younger woman. But he’s still attracted to Jane, and they start an affair. Then along comes Adam (Martin) – an architect who’s designing Jane’s house extension. Adam, also a divorcee, is attracted to Jane. And Jane feels something for him. Then Jake leaves his wife (or she ejects him) due to his affair with Jane. Inevitably Jane feels she must choose between Jake and Adam. And she does. The confusion of the characters’ private lives contrasts with the picture-perfect settings where no household object and no garden leaf is awry. But that’s human feelings for you. They’re more unpredictable than a vacuum cleaner or a leaf blower. To help explain the post-divorce affair, we needed to see something of Jane and Adam’s marriage and then divorce. But writer and director Nancy Meyer denies us this. The superb acting talent of the three leading actors isn’t enough to save this movie. I rate it two stars.

P.S For the life of me I don’t know why the title’s it’s is written in lower case. Or why Jane and Jake have such similar names. Ho hum.