It’s Complicated

No other film genre is quite as maligned and stagnant as the romantic comedy, so it takes something special to elevate an average run-of-the-mill rom-com into the heady heights of watchable fluff. That feat was made a lot easier for Nancy Meyers when she nabbed Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin – three actors who are not only enjoying career highlights but are being credited with changing Hollywood’s perception of leading men/women over 40.

Jane (Meryl Streep) is a divorced mother of three grown children looking tentatively ahead at her future without a husband or children to wait on. Meanwhile her ex, Jake (Alec Baldwin), has re-married a much younger model but is thrust back into her life after a night of drunken sex the night before their youngest’s graduation. While Jane revels in being the other woman for a short period and enjoys her cheating ex chasing after her, she soon encounters Adam (Steve Martin), an architect who is remodelling her home and a recovering divorcee himself. So who will Jane choose – the lovable but flawed ex-husband or the new and exciting architect?

Although it’s been done before there is something wonderfully refreshing about having a Hollywood rom-com led by actors over the age of 50, which immediately gives the story and characters extra depth. They’ve found love, married, had children and are starting all over again with the added knowledge of what not to do the second time round. That said, half the fun is watching them make the same mistakes as your average 20-year-old by getting drunk and jumping into bed with the wrong person. It also doesn’t shy away from exploring female insecurities that come with aging and middle aged sex which Streep and Baldwin (who strips off more than once) handle with honest subtlety.

Meryl Streep is quite wonderful and completely convincing as a woman embarking on a new life, while Steve Martin makes a welcome, if slightly miscast return to form after one to many below-par comedies in his last few outings. But although it may come as no surprise to anyone who’s caught his performance on TV’s 30 Rock, it’s Alec Baldwin who emerges as the reason to see this film. In a stereotypical rom-com, Jake would be the villain of the piece after cheating on his first wife and then running back to her though still married to his second, but it’s his lovable idiocy and memorable one-liners that cause the frequent laugh out loud moments and even help to erase the over-sentimental scenes with the anodyne, picture perfect kids.

It may not be the saviour of romantic comedies, but this is an enjoyable film with great leads and comic chops. Complicated? Not really, but it is a laugh.

Limara Salt

Anticipation:

A Nancy Meyers rom-com usually brings out a rash but a Streep, Baldwin and Martin threeway sounds promising.

Enjoyment:

Complicated? Not really, but it is a laugh.

In Retrospect:

Enjoyable fluff if not entirely memorable.