It’s Complicated Review

Meryl, Alec and Steve are all incredibly funny in It’s Complicated. Worth the price of a movie ticket if you’re in the mood for a good laugh.

My rating

If you search for It’s Complicated on Rotten Tomatoes you might be dumbfounded to discover that the critics hated this movie, but the viewers loved it. There is a difference of 20 points between the two. I have to be honest, I cannot believe it myself. It is true that this wasn’t a terribly original idea. There were also some in appropriate scenes with drug use and some nudity, but those scenes that the critics found inappropriate were exactly what made this movie so hilarious. I guess you will have to ask yourself one question before you would see this movie, “Do I like crude adult humor?” If the answer is no, then you shouldn’t watch this film. If however, you do enjoy that sort of thing, then I think you’ll like this movie without a doubt, just like I did, and just like many others.

Once again Meryl Streep was fantastic in her role. She was even nominated for a Golden Globe award for her work. She only lost to herself for her performance as Julia Child in Julie & Julia. Bummer! Watching Meryl act is a treat. Very few actors have the talent to become someone else so flawlessly and at the same time make it look so easy and effortless. If you ever see Meryl in an interview, you will be surprised to realize that she is nothing like the characters she plays. She is incredible.

Then there was Alec Baldwin; I love this man! Alec is a comic genius. I don’t like to use that word too much because I think that entertainers frequently misuse it , but in this case, I think it applies to him. Alec can make you laugh like no other person can and at the same time he can make you believe his performance. The man has comedic talent oozing out of his pores and like Meryl he was brilliant in this role. His interactions with Meryl weren’t only burst-a-seam-laughing funny, but they were also very convincing and they would rival any drama.

Steve Martin is also a funny entertainer. He’s not much of an actor, but we won’t hold that against him. Some of the weakest parts in the movie were the romantic interactions between Meryl and Steve. However, some of the best and funniest moments of the film were between those two. Thus while Steve wasn’t great in his serious parts in this role, he was incredibly funny in the comic parts. One can say that Steve still has the ability to make you laugh, and it doesn’t look like he’s ready to hang his hat anytime soon. I think that is a good thing.

It’s Complicated actually isn’t that complicated to explain. Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin have been divorced for just about ten years. They separated because Alec was caught having an affair with a younger, much “hotter” woman. He had since married that other woman and they had a five year old child together. After ten years of being apart, Alec realized he still had feelings for Meryl. Bullshit, the truth was that Alec was playing a selfish SOB. I don’t think he had any feelings for her, he just wanted out of the relationship because he didn’t want to have to share his woman with children. Thus after Meryl’s youngest finally moved away to college, once again he was interested in her. There was another reason he wanted to go back to her. His new hot wife wanted to have another child, but he was so gutless he didn’t know how to say no. His solution was to be unfaithful to his current wife by having an affair with his ex-wife.

Meryl’s character has been alone for the ten years following the divorce and her friends were worried about her. It had taken her a long time to get over her failed marriage and she never quite wanted to get back into the dating scene that is until Alec came back in her life. Meryl was reluctant at first, but then she gave in, however all she wanted was an affair although she did wonder what it would be like to have him back in her life. I don’t think that she liked living alone very much.  In the mean time, Meryl was also starting to fall for another man, Steve Martin. He was the architect that she had hired to put a new addition to her house which included a new giant kitchen. She had wanted one for over ten years and now she was finally going to get it. Steve did the design for the new addition, but what was more important here was that Steve understood exactly her taste and what she wanted as if he knew her from the inside out. This was very attractive to Meryl, so naturally she fell for him.

You can start to imagine the complexity of the story. Meryl was dating Steve, but at the same time had a secret affair with Alec. Except that it wasn’t a total secret, Meryl’s future son-in-law knew about the affair and struggled to keep it a secret from his future wife and the rest of Meryl’s kids. Okay, it was complicated, but it was also a hell of a lot of fun. I absolutely loved this movie, I enjoyed it from beginning to end and I would recommend it to anyone. Forget what the critics are saying; if you want a good laugh, go see it right now!