It's a Complicated Mess

See anything familiar? Hm...


I think Nancy Meyers has hit upon a formula here. Smart, rich white female divorcees in their late fifties walk around in their bathrobes eating leftovers and comfort food in the middle of the night, scare their children, the unfortunate and to be pitied products of divorce by having affairs with unlikely men, namely their childrens senior citizen boyfriends or men half their age or both all to a musical score that sounds like Lite FM. And lets never forget a little French music and internet mishaps.

I can accept that many people may have been just as disappointed or disapproving of “Something’s Gotta Give” as I was in “It’s Complicated.” But there was chemistry and believability all over the place in SGG. I could watch that movie all day and have thoroughly enjoyed watching it many times. Diane and Jack breathed life, humor, talent, even romance into every scene of that vanilla set. “Its Complicated” was like a sputtering clunker that never really got started and with two or three of film’s most incredible actors. Well at least one. How does that happen?

I think I was relieved whenever I saw John Krasinski from “The Office” because I then I could laugh genuinely for a second instead of sighing. It was tough. Meryl seemed to be visibly struggling with how to treat the part. Never in my life did I ever think I would see her psychotically waffling in any part unless of course that’s what it called for. In “The Holiday” a movie that is not worth ever seeing unless your into that, I was blown away by how seriously Kate Winslet took a part that she could have easily phoned in for all the script was worth. She raised the bar on a piece of light, mindless fluff and really made me look forward to her scenes in a movie I would never think to see if it hadn't been a free, star studded opening premiere at the Zigfeld. I never dreamed that Meryl couldn’t blow this thing out of the water!

And Alec! He was doing Jack Donoghy from "30 Rock" 89% of the time! The other 21% he was just beef caking and bulldogging. The poor man! I felt terrible for him. If he could get it together for a second I believe he could actually be formidable for more than just his drop-dead good looks and butter melting voice. He’s happened upon a hit role in a hit television series and can’t seem to step away from it! It’s like a safety net and that’s the kiss of death!

There’s nothing really to be said about the rest of the cast, which wasn’t really utilized well at all except as a way to be played off of and “played” by the two major stars although John Krasinski was a welcome little stand out.

Overall the whole thing, which I was looking forward to, just flopped for me. It’s not even a guilty pleasure like “Sex in The City” movies, which I know have their problems but are no different (I don’t care what anybody says) from the television series. I will watch “Sex in the City” and it’s geriatric sexual shenanigan movies for decades. “Its Complicated” was really not that complicated, just a forgettable attempt at another Nancy Meyers formula. I will never see it again.
Oh Alec!