An unfortunate number of romantic comedies released in 2009 were neither romantic nor comedic (I'm looking at you, Leap Year), so when It's Complicated turned out to have ample helpings of both key elements, I was greatly relieved. The film follows Jane (Meryl Streep) as her fling with ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin) throws a wrench into her budding romance with Adam, her architect (Steve Martin). It's brave, in our youth-obsessed culture, to base a romantic comedy around a couple in their fifties, but if anyone could make such a film successful it's writer/director Nancy Meyers, who brought us The Holiday and Something's Gotta Give.
Jane's social network is realistically complex. She's got three children in college (one of whom has a fiance), a needy ex-husband who cheated on her, divorced her, and is now married to his much younger lover, a group of female confidants, and finally a potential boyfriend. With so many characters the story could easily become cluttered, but Meyers achieves balance by staying with Jane nearly all the time. Jane herself is so likeable that you can't help but root for her, and she has such great chemistry with both men that there are times when you actually wonder who she'll end up with. The case for the winning suitor is subtle, but you'll be pleased with Jane's choice. After all, happy endings are why we go to romantic comedies.
Most of the comedy comes from the outrageously raunchy dialogue between Jake and Jane (e.g. "I like that you've stopped getting bikini waxes. You've gone native!") and from Jane's bumbling soon-to-be son-in-law Harley (John Krasinski of The Office) who tries to keep Jane and Jake's affair a secret from his fiance and her siblings. Though a headliner in the comedy world, Steve Martin doesn't go over the top here, instead providing backup to Meryl Streep and fellow frequent Saturday Night Live host Alec Baldwin. The result: entire theaters full of people laughing until their faces hurt.
It's Complicated isn't just about the laughs, though. It's also got a sweetness to it that makes it last longer in your memory than your average comedy. Sympathetic depictions of men who can't be without a woman at their side, women struggling to find themselves after failed relationships, divorced men dating again for the first time in years, and kids who never stop being kids around their parents no matter how old they get provide a way into the story for everyone. See it with a friend, a lover, a relative, or alone. It doesn't matter. Just see it.
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