“It’s Complicated” (2009)
I was in the mood for a good romantic comedy, and It’s Complicated at the cheap theater with real-butter popcorn fit the bill. Meryl Streep has been divorced from Alec Baldwin for 10 years after being married for 20. They have 3 grown kids, and he has a lissome trophy wife and her strange 5yo son. Streep is a very successful bakery owner, and has a really swank home that she’s inexplicably getting an addition for, so she can build the kitchen of her dreams. (The current kitchen is more than enough for most people’s dreams.) Steve Martin, admirably toned down, plays her recently divorced architect and tentative love interest.
The complications of the title occur when Streep and Baldwin get drunk and have a one-night stand while attending their son’s graduation. He’s unhappy in his marriage, so he thinks it’s great. She’s enjoying herself, but is more hesitant, especially as she gets to know the architect.
Streep is charming, Baldwin is hilarious, and John Krasinski is both as their future son-in-law. I found Martin immensely likable, which I almost never do. The theater where I saw it was packed on a Saturday night, and I missed many of the lines because of all the laughter. At the end, the audience burst into spontaneous applause. By no means perfect, it was enjoyable and a crowd pleaser. I’ll definitely rent it when it comes out on DVD. And kudos for casting Baldwin, 9 years Streep’s junior, as her love interest! How often does that happen?