It's Complicated Review
By Rich Cline
Jane (Streep) has been divorced from Jake (Baldwin) for 10 years and is starting to relax around him again, despite some bitterness toward his new, younger wife (Bell). So when Jane and Jake start having an affair, it's almost like revenge. But it also jeopardises Jane's tentative courtship with her shy architect Adam (Martin). And Jane knows there'd be even bigger problems if her three adult kids (Fitzgerald, Kazan and Parrish) found out what she was up to.
As usual, Meyers takes a smiley, cheesy approach, filling scenes with knowing glances, small moments of slapstick and goofy double entendres. Thankfully, it's Streep and Baldwin who are playing most of these scenes, and both are so good at combining comedy with an undercurrent of emotional and black irony that we never get tired of watching them, even as the plot rambles around in rather predictably farcical circles.
Along the way, Streep makes Jane a believable character, thanks in part to Meyers' astute dialog and unfussy direction but also to Streep's willingness to play a realistically late-50s woman who is still living a full life. Seeing her luminous, expressive face lined and wrinkled, we wonder if there's another actress in Hollywood who could still play this role. Even braver is Baldwin's willingness to unapologetically show that hairy flabbiness is both honest and sexy. By comparison, the contained performance from Martin feels almost quaint and sweet.
Like her other films, Meyers sets this story in an impossibly upscale fantasy world in which everyone lives in dreamy designer splendour and has a job that looks both effortless and fun. Here we're in the gorgeously posh California coastal town of Santa Barbara, where Jane runs a fabulous bakery (echoes of Julie & Julia abound) and is adding a new wing onto her sprawling ranch house even though all of her kids have moved out. In other words, this is nowhere near the real world. But you may be able to see some of it from here.

Facts and Figures
Year: 2009
Run time: 120 mins
In Theaters: Friday 25th December 2009
Box Office USA: $112.7M
Box Office Worldwide: $219.1M
Budget: $85M
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Production compaines: Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Waverly Films, Scott Rudin Productions, Dentsu
Reviews
Contactmusic.com: 3 / 5
Rotten Tomatoes: 57%
Fresh: 98 Rotten: 75
IMDB: 6.6 / 10
Cast & Crew
Director: Nancy Meyers
Producer: Nancy Meyers, Scott Rudin
Screenwriter: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Meryl Streep as Jane Adler, Alec Baldwin as Jake Adler, Steve Martin as Adam Schaffer, Lake Bell as Agness Adler, Mary Kay Place as Joanne, John Krasinski as Harley, Rita Wilson as Trisha, Alexandra Wentworth as Diane, Hunter Parrish as Luke Adler, Zoe Kazan as Gabby Adler, Caitlin Fitzgerald as Lauren Adler, Nora Dunn as Sally, Bruce Altman as Ted, Robert Curtis Brown as Peter, James Patrick Stuart as Dr. Moss, Peter MacKenzie as Dr. Allen, Emily Kinney as Waitress
Also starring: Nancy Meyers, Scott Rudin