A 'Complicated' Comedy for Grown-Ups

by Brett Parker

Romantic comedies produced by Hollywood usually serve as wish fulfillment for a particular kind of moviegoer. Inadequate geeks can imagine themselves winning the love of a sweet-hearted and gorgeous sexpot. Independent females can witness the experience of bagging a studly and successful masculine hunk. With the films of Nancy Meyers, middle-aged women can experience fantasies in which they can win the love of devious men without compromising their ethics. It’s Complicated works this ideal double-time as it presents a strong-willed heroine who manages to both rejuvenate passionate love with her bullish ex-husband while also winning the affections of a sweet and successful architect. That Meyers is herself a middle-aged and divorced working woman adds a certain juice of sincerity to what could’ve been a plastic sitcom.

The film stars the indestructible Meryl Streep as Jane, a successful owner of a popular California bakery and proud mother of three glamorous children. Her business has garnered the kind of West Coast dream house that would be fetishized in a Lifetime TV special. All of her children seem to be flawless in all of their academic, professional, and romantic endeavors. Jane herself overflows with loveliness and optimism. The only flaw in her seemingly perfect life is the fact that she has been long divorced from Jake (Alec Baldwin), a shrewd attorney who left her for a much younger babe (Lake Bell). Jane and Jake are on pleasant speaking terms and are both active in the lives of their children, yet always flustering Jane is the preposterous joy Jake seems to be experiencing in his second marriage.

Thinks take a dramatic turn the night of their son’s college graduation in New York. Jane and Jake decide to have a friendly drink together at the bar of the hotel their staying in. One drink leads to too many and a harmless conversation leads to a passionate fling in the bedroom. All it takes is this one time to get Jake love-struck all over again and pretty soon, he’s begging Jane not only for frequent sexual trysts but for her to take him back and start over from scratch. Jake is head-over-heels for Jane and might just be ready to dismantle his second marriage and move back in with her.

Even though Jane finds herself in the incredibly lucky dream of reassembling a once happy marriage, she grows quite skeptical of the situation. Too much time has passed with too many scars to show for it. Can she really jump back into her marriage with Jake? Is his intentions genuine? Can the damage from their first marriage be so easily erased? Complicating matters is the fact that Jane has taken a liking to Adam (Steve Martin), the architect who is helping to put additions on Jane’s luxurious home. Adam is a kind-hearted divorcee who likes Jane for all the right reasons. He appears more genuine than Jake. Should Jane take on a new suitor or try to fully repair her family unit with Jake?

Nancy Meyers is a filmmaker hopelessly in love with the commercial art of the romantic comedy. Most Hollywood rom-coms tread a thin line between shamelessness and sincerity and Meyers cheerfully dances on that line with a delightful affection. Her last film, The Holiday, was one of the most obvious and self-aware rom-coms I’ve ever seen…and I enjoyed every minute of it! She has such a touching passion for the genre’s conventions that her cheerfulness somehow shines through the clichés. Meyers was once married to Charles Shyer and together they produced the Father of the Bride movies. They divorced soon after and Meyers appeared to work out her issues in the rom-com genre, painting portraits of adult women who are fed up with men’s narcissism and irreverence and struggle to find an antidote through either unconventional romance or their own independence (Shyer appeared to work out his divorce issues in his Alfie remake, painting an accurate portrait of the modern male’s emotional detachment and self-isolation).

Romantic comedies are typically so high on their own romanticism that they bask their universes in an almost dreamlike idealism. Meyers can’t help but follow this trend. We’re not looking at a real world but a perfect world. Almost every person we see in It’s Complicated is attractive and everyone in Jane’s life appears to abide strictly by the J.Crew and IKEA catalogs. Even the heartfelt situations Meyers creates can’t help but tread the unrealistic. I would imagine most middle-aged divorces will find this film to be something of a cartoon, for the real world isn’t as generous or as brightly-optimistic as Meyers paints it. But the last thing Meyers strives for is realism; she wants to create cinematic landscapes in which grown-up women can work out their anxieties and dreams. Since Hollywood rom-coms can be fueled by shallow and cynical motivations, we welcome Meyers methodology with a surprising affection.

Of all her films, Something's Gotta Give and It's Complicated appear to be the most representative of Meyer's plights and desires. Something's Gotta Give imagined a female artist who wrestled with her romantic anguish to write a play that provided her with a wonderful anxiety release. It's Complicated allows Meyers to play out the dream of choosing between an ex-husband willing to accept his faults and a successful and single sweetheart. What's refreshing is the way that Meyers essentially handles these plot threads with maturity and emotional logic. Even though the material is obviously a romantic fantasy, Meyers refuses to wrap things up in a tidy and idealistic ending. She allows the complexity of the situation room to breathe. It's a relief to discover that the story turns out to be dictated by the character's damaged hearts and not by plot mechanics.

Streep has achieved a rare stature in her craft in which she can just about play anything. A rom-com heroine is a walk in the park for her. So of course she radiates in the fantastical elements of the plot and shows a strong-headed self-reliance when things grow serious. I'm sure she did Meyers proudly. Steve Martin proves he can be strikingly convincing as an easy-going nice guy. Alec Baldwin probably has the hardest task out of everyone; he has to play a character trotting both buffoonery and sincerity. Baldwin has grown into a fine comic actor over the years and he handles the unlikely nuances of his character with a masterful grace. He's funny when need be, but he's also rather grabbing when he makes heartfelt romantic pleas for Jane's love. There's been talks of a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Baldwin's work here, talk I think he is more than worthy of.

So obviously this film is targeted at middle-aged women, so what did a twenty-something male like myself think? I found it to be a competent dramedy. I found the dialogue to be rather insightful and the performances to be very witty and sympathetic, especially Baldwin’s. I wasn’t as involved as I’d hoped to be, but I suspected strongly that older women will and that’s really what matters here. For there have been complaints throughout the ages that there aren’t enough good movies out there for both grown-ups and women. Nancy Meyers has heard the cries and has delivered a fine answer to those problems.