it’s Complicated 2.5***
’ I’m conflicted about “it’s Complicated. Yes, I enjoyed it as a well done “rom-com’ with nice feel-good overtones. And , most any movie Meryl Streep is in is worth seeing if all she did was ride a large tri-cycle around the park and say a few lines. Here she exceeds in a comedy role with just the right touch.However, I’m not a big Alec Baldwin fan…I try and try and here I was able to give him the benefit of the doubt as he does a reasonably good job of playing off Streep. As for Steve Martin, I thought he was miscast as the other serious romantic interest for Streep. Maybe I got TOO used to him being on “Saturday Night Live” as one of the “wild and crazy guys” and doing monologues with a fake arrow sticking through his head. I just can make the transition to him being in a serious role..
STORY: Jane (M. Streep) is the mother of three grown kids, owns a thriving Santa Barbara bakery/restaurant and has—after a decade of divorce—still has an amicable relationship with her ex-husband, Jake (A. Baldwin). But when Jane and Jake find themselves thrown together out of town for their son’s college graduation, things start to get complicated. An innocent meal together turns into the unimaginable—an affair. With Jake now married to the much younger Agness (Lake Bell), Jane is now, of all things, the other woman. Caught in the middle of their renewed romance is Adam (S. Martin), an architect hired to remodel Jane’s kitchen. Healing from a divorce of his own, Adam starts to fall for Jane, but soon realizes he may have become part of a love triangle. Should Jane and Jake move on with their lives, or is love truly lovelier the second time around? It’s…complicated.
“it’s Complicated’ was a little too complicated for me in that it lasted about 10 to 15 minutes too long. They tried to do too much when less would have been enough. Some good points include the absolutely lovely home and especially the kitchen along with a garden/patio where a lot of the movie is filmed, and while Streep is not Julia Child here, she still displays what appears to be a cooking talent in keeping with the role of her character.
In the end, as I said, I was conflicted in my reaction to this movie because for me it’s hard to compliment the film without mentioning some of the negatives My bottom line is that it was not that bad, but that’s about as good as it got. And it’s hard to feel bad about being negative when my overall assessment is about all the movie’s makers were hoping for. Now that d sounds complicated but hopefully you can figure it out.

Clark