"It's Complicated"

Our Christmas ritual is pretty set by now... because of the nature of The Happiest Place in the Mall, I work on Christmas Eve, and typically work the day after Christmas as well.  This makes it nearly impossible to travel the three hours home to Samson, so The Lovely Steph Leann and I have breakfast at The Waffle House with Big Daddy Ron, Mama Ruthless and Tyler "The Sexy Beast" Campbell. 

After breakfast, we take in a movie or two, and then we have dinner at The Purple Onion, open 24-7-365.  The first movie this go around was "It's Complicated". 

This little film tells the story of Jane (Meryl Streep, whom in my later years I am beginning to enjoy and appreciate more and more), who is divorced from Jake (Alec Baldwin, who you can take or leave politically--I choose the latter--but is just about perfect in his comedic timing), because Jake had an affair with, then married, Agness (Lake Bell, who is... uh... don't know), a young 20-something chick.

Somehow Jane ends up... sleeping with Jake.  Jane becomes "the other woman", which is bizarre for her, because, as her group of friends put it, "You had him first!".  She comically declares, "Turns out, I'm a bit of a slut..."

Thing get even more... complicated, if you will... when you toss in Adam (Steve Martin, who I so miss seeing in these types of roles), Jane's architect.  After a meeting about a new addition to Jane's home, they end up hitting it off.  Of course, Jake is mortified and jealous, even though he's married to someone else...

You see where this is going...

I had a really good time with this flick.  I didn't expect anything really heavy to chew on, and wasn't given anything of the like, only great performances with three fantastic veterans who honestly look like they are having a great time making this movie and being together.

Once again, Meryl Streep tosses her hat in the ring for consideration as "Greatest Living Actress" in a role that didn't require lots of stretching, but at the same time had to require a lot to just be real.  She wasn't playing a cold hearted executive like Miranda or having to sing like Donna, but just a real woman caught in an unusual situation.

You only need to watch "30 Rock" a few times to marvel at Alec Baldwin's presence onscreen, and Steve Martin proves how much fun he is to watch when given the right film.  Those Pink Panther movies or anything where he and Queen Latifah try to bring the house down... crap.  Total crap.  Movies like this, that put forth his age, his charm and his talent.  Perhaps he's not good enough to make any and every role his, but he's good enough to make the right ones really shine--and this was just the right one.

SIDEBAR:  Three Steve Martin films that you may not know much about, but should see immediately... "Bowfinger", one of the funniest films ever... "Roxanne", a sweet take on Cyrano de Bergerac and one of The Dave100 films... "Grand Canyon", a serious role that he takes on fully.

As much as I gush about the three obvious stars in this film, there's another who really shines and steals just about every scene he's in--John Krasinski.  You would know him as Jim from "The Office", and he plays the fiancee of Jane & Jake's daughter Lauren.  He.  Is.  Hilarious  Absolutely hysterical.  Don't know if they intended to give him all the good lines or he just took what he had and ran with it... either way, it works in a huge way.



The film is Rated R for language, though I don't remember it being bad... the director is Nancy Meyer, who did "Something's Gotta Give", "What Women Want" and one of The Lovely Steph Leann's favorite films, "The Holiday", one that I'm growing more and more fond of everytime I see it.  (Meyer also did "The Parent Trap" remake, starring Lindsay Lohan before she went off and joined Team Bats***, but that's another story)  Anyway, all that is to say, if you enjoy any or all of those first three films, you'll enjoy "Its Complicated". 

It's worth a matinee, or if you want to wait until it is available on DVD probably in the summer, check it out then.