Universal Pictures | USA | 118 min
Who doesn’t love Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin? They’re generally hilarious and equally likable performers. And who doesn’t declare Meryl Streep one of the most accomplished actors ever to live? The combination of these three should have equaled gangbusters, but somehow the end product is a forgettable contrived middle age rom-com.
Jane (Meryl Streep) is a divorcé with three kids, a bakery shop and no one at her side to love her. Jake (Alec Baldwin), the ex-husband, is a highly successful lawyer with a supermodel-esque wife. They’ve been divorced nearly a decade and Jane is the only who hasn’t found someone. On the other hand, Jake landed a jackpot with his mistress Agness (Lake Bell), who is completely beautiful and intelligent. Brought together for their son’s graduation, Jane and Jake start rekindle their love/lust for one another. This affair continues for some time since they both get a rush out of it, but Jake looks at it as more than just a “fling.” He once again falls for Jane and is now looking to get back to her. Caught in this love triangle is Adam (Steve Martin), the likable and hurt architect who is designing a new part of Jane’s house.
You know those romantic comedies where you know going in who’s going to end up with who? Or the ones where every character conflict can be predetermined after the characters are introduced? Sadly, It’s Complicated in-bodies those typical aspects and is simply a walking cliché. Scene after scene the film plays out exactly as one would expect. There’s no excitement, no investment in the characters and it’s hard to care for anyone except Adam. The narrative is a string of bland SNL sketches tied together. It’s sloppy and moves along at a sluggish pace with a painful two hour running time. By the one hour mark it becomes a burden to watch. There’s a few funny bits sprinkled throughout here and there, but all those moments get lost due to the overwhelming amount immature and juvenile humor. This is definitely geared more so towards the “adult” audience which is completely baffling since the humor is extremely low brow and immature.
One of the main problems with It’s Complicated is the character of Jane. The reason: she’s not the least bit interesting and is also completely despicable. She laughs it off with her girlfriends about how she’s having an affair with her ex while totally disregards Jake’s current wife’s feelings. Jane and her girlfriends call it “fair game,” but that doesn’t make it any less reprehensible. She’s having fun and enjoying her relationship with Jake while the perfectly nice Agness is being cheated on and thrown to the side. To make the case even worse Jake has an actual child with this person; they’re both terribly oblivious characters with nearly no likability. There’s nothing mean or unlikable about the character Agness which ultimately makes Jane come off as a horrible person. Streep is perfectly watchable, but she’s stuck playing a terrible character. All she does is sugarcoat an extremely mean spirited role.
The true saving grace here is Steve Martin who’s of course likable and even a tad bit interesting. It’s difficult not to want to see his character succeed in the end. Martin’s quietness comes off as pleasant and makes Adam even more charming. It certainly is the cliché quiet nice guy routine, but Martin elevates it. This is why it’s heart crushing to see him end up with Jane in the end. He’s a character that deserves to receive greatness from life and yet he ends up with someone so utterly hateful. Martin’s character even makes Jane more unlikable since all she does is toy with him while living a fantasy affair. Baldwin is of course quite funny at times and is another bright spot in this lackluster experience. Unfortunately, he’s also a tad hit and miss at times due to the cheap humor he has to deliver. If one enjoys the idea of Baldwin making constant sex jokes, seeing him shirtless countless times and him doing his psychopathic stares then you may enjoy the questionable humor.
This is everything a romantic comedy should not be. There needs to be characters that one can actually care for and more importantly find interesting. When there’s nearly no one you’re able to invest in then you’re stuck to hanging out with characters you simply can’t stand for two hours. There’s a few bright spots such as Martin and Baldwin, but even they cant save this from being another dull run-of-the-mill romantic comedy.