Salt Lake Tribune Review
Get ready for
Meryl Streep, a sexpot at 60.
In writer-director
Nancy Meyers’ extramarital comedy “It’s Complicated,” the divine Miss Streep is sweet, smart and sexy — in a performance that generates more laughs and takes more risks than her Julia Child impersonation this summer.
Streep plays Jane Adler, a prosperous southern California bakery-shop owner who has been 10 years divorced from Jake (
Alec Baldwin). His midlife crisis came in the form of a hot young wife, Agnes (
Lake Bell), and her overstimulated five-year-old son. With the last of the divorced couple’s three kids, Gabby (
Zoe Kazan), leaving for college, Jane’s feeling a tad lonely — which is when she meets a gentlemanly architect, Adam (
Steve Martin), who designs an extension for her house.
But before anything can begin between Jane and Adam, something unexpected happens. On a trip to New York for the graduation of middle child Luke (Hunter Parrish), Jane and Jake end up together in the hotel bar — and, after many drinks, in bed.
Back in California, though, Jake wants to keep seeing Jane — a situation that’s at first pleasant but ultimately confusing. Does she want to start up again with a man who left her? Is she doing it for revenge on Agnes? And what about her kids, who have had to adjust to their parents apart? And what about Adam, who seems like the right guy at the wrong time?
Sure, this is middle-aged feminine wish-fulfilment fantasy — a robust sex life and a house straight out of Architectural Digest. But that’s what Meyers does best, as she did with the
Diane Keaton/Jack Nicholson/
Keanu Reeves love triangle in “Something’s Gotta Give.” The difference is that Meyers has found an actress who can make the most of it.
Streep is well matched by Baldwin, who takes his trademark barrel-chested bluster to new levels, while Martin is surprisingly at home as the sincere Adam. And John Krasinsky (“The Office”) gets to show some up-to-now unknown slapstick chops, playing Jane’s future son-in-law, who trips over himself when he becomes the one person who knows about Jane and Jake’s affair.
But “It’s Complicated” belongs whole-heartedly to
Meryl Streep. After a career of tightly controlled performances, from “Sophie’s Choice” to “The Devil Wears Prada,” Streep finally gets her chance to cut loose — and her frisky, flirty Jane is a comic revelation.
- Sean P. Means
It's Complicated
Submitted by: dufferandhacker
Great film---Meryl Steep is terrific as usual; the screenplay is smart, quick moving and very entertaining. Very funny at times.
Duffer and hacker
Synopsis: Jane is the mother of three grown kids, owns a thriving Santa Barbara bakery/restaurant and has—after a decade of divorce—an amicable relationship with her ex-husband, attorney Jake. But when Jane and Jake find themselves out of town for their son's college graduation, things start to get complicated. An innocent meal together turns into the unimaginable—an affair. With Jake remarried to the much younger Agness, Jane is now, of all things, the other woman. Caught in the middle of their renewed romance is Adam, an architect hired to remodel Jane's kitchen. Healing from a divorce of his own, Adam starts to fall for Jane, but soon realizes he's become part of a love triangle. Should Jane and Jake move on with their lives, or is love truly lovelier the second time around? It's--complicated.
