Imagine your parents stumbling into the room, lips locked, tongues imitating a washing machine on a fast, wet spin, hands groping, bodies bumping and grinding and gyrating and noises escaping that are only ever heard during the mating season of the orangutan. Pretty disgusting image, right? Now imagine that your parents are Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin and you’ll be some way to experiencing the utter eww-fest that is It’s Complicated.
As a self-confessed rom-com addict, I was fully expecting the kind of frolicsome farce that is delivered in abundance by writer-director Nancy Meyers (The Holiday, What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give), who creates a saccharine world of chocolate croissants and pastries (think Chocolat), run entirely by women who have morals as loose as their purse strings. Meyers – never one to be accused of realism – feeds us a slice of American upper-middle class pie, easing us into a female fantasy world filled with sunshine, sex and Spanish-style estates. After ten years apart, Jane Adler (Streep), the proprietor of a successful bakery in Santa Barbara, rekindles her relationship with ex-husband Jake (Baldwin) but quickly discovers that being the ‘other woman’ isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The stress of secret liaisons in five star hotels soon pushes her into the arms of her shy architect Adam (Steve Martin), with whom she shares a mutual appreciation of…pot. While watching a bunch of stoned fifty-somethings giggling and flirting outrageously may be entertainment for some, I found myself squirming uncomfortably in my seat, experiencing some serious bouts of second-hand embarrassment.
There are, however, a few saving graces. While the plot won’t rock your world, the acting from Steve Martin and John Krasinksi (who plays Harley, engaged to Jane’s eldest daughter) is superb in its subtly and the inevitable laughter when one or both are on screen is thoroughly deserved. While ‘nice guy’ roles are usually overlooked in most chick flicks, Martin’s scenes offer a welcome reprieve. His softly-spoken manner and gentlemanly sweetness creates a positive contrast to Streep and Baldwin’s often uncomfortable sexual antics. Though their chemistry cannot be denied, it relies too heavily upon bodily contact to be believable, and when there are quiet moments between the two, they rarely last long enough for you to get over the shock of witnessing real, genuine intimacy.
If Sex and the City for seniors isn’t your thing, then steer well clear. For every twenty-something watching it and mentally bleaching their eyeballs, there is a desperate forty-something frantically scribbling down advice on how to win herself a man. Because that’s what Nancy Meyers does best – she offers hope to the lonely masses. If the beautiful Meryl Streep can re-catch the eye of the man who left her for his mistress a decade ago, then you can too! Don’t give up! There are enough sleazy worms to go around! Coming in at the two hour mark, It’s Complicated could also have done with being twenty minutes shorter. To paraphrase a line of Jake’s: ‘O M G, I thought it would never end.’
3 stars
