It's Complicated

The Flick: It's Complicated

The Actors: Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, John Krazinski, Rita Wilson, Mary Kay Place, Lake Bell and the most obnoxious male-kid in recent memory.

The Dealio: Jane and Jake divorced, after 20 years of marriage and 3 childrenm so that Jake can marry Agness. Now, 10 years later, there is a reunion of sorts prompted by Jane and Jake's youngest child's graduation from college. The entire clan re-situates to a plus NYC hotel and, well, one thing lead to another and, before you know it, sparks begin to fly between the two exes.
Into this mix, dump a newly divorced architect- Steve Martin, who is sweet-sweet-sweetie-sweet, but has clearly had some sort of plastic intervention. Then there is Agness' drive to have a child with Jake, which has taken all the fun out of their relationship and substituted nastiness, jealousy and suspicion--in this case, well-founded. Then there is Krazinski's Harley, who is very quick, indeed, on the uptake, realising that there is a whole lot of 'very French ' naughtiness going on behind others' backs. What to do, what to do?

The Grading Session: 3.68 pengies out of 5. Oddly enough, I thought I would like this movie much more than I actually did. I love-love-love the leads, and there are such tender and tough moments of confrontation (with fears, with advancing age, with the inevitability of failing at something that means the world to you), but was ultimately disappointed in the carry-through. My steadfast co-observer remarked, 'I wonder how many endings they went through before they lit on this one?' And I agree- which seems to be the problem. Should you go see this thing? Well, yeah, especially if you just saw Precious the day before...which I did. Sometimes there is great need for the palate cleansing that goes with movies like Meatballs, or Miss Congeniality and, well, It's Complicated. There is also some terrific gal-pandering: beautiful home, successful business, attractive friends, great relationships with the offspring- all post break-up. Which is as soothing as a trip to the spa, and a lot less costly.

Lessons Learned: Although it looks good on paper, or in your imagination, it almost never works out that you can revisit the scene of the crime and make everything turn out the way we feel they just-doggone it!- ought to(which).