IT'S COMPLICATED

“IT’S COMPLICATED” (Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin & Steve Martin)

You can’t call something this simplistic & stupid ‘It’s COMPLICATED’ – It’s only complicated to the moronic characters in this dumb ass movie.
Let’s start with the lead female dumb ass, Jane Adler (played like a teenager by elderly Meryl Streep) she lives in a mansion – alone - & she decides in these difficult financial times to add another kitchen with a bathroom onto her mansion - & it had to be pointed out that Jane bought this house after her divorce, so we males who were dragged to this chick flick would stop thinking she screwed her ex in the divorce settlement.
While discussing this renovation with her new architect, Adam (Steve Martin) the idea of his & her sinks for the bathroom comes up – Jane let’s Adam know there’s no ‘his’ in the picture – Adam asks if there might be the possibility of a future his & she responds, “Oh God, now we’re talking code about my life!”
Am I missing something with this lingo? How is that talking ‘code’? What’s the code?
He asked a simple question – there was no CODE involved.
Next superficial Jane visits a plastic surgeon to see if he could fix the flabby skin over her eyes – We’re suppose to remove the superficial label from Jane because she decides not to have the surgery.
I began to wonder how Jane became so filthy rich she could build an extension on her huge home & consider insignificant plastic surgery – turns out she owns a bakery, and as everyone knows bakeries are the last shops to feel the crunch when an economy collapses.
Alec Baldwin plays Jake Adler; he has married the much younger, no need for plastic surgery woman who stole him from Jane. Lake Bell plays Agnes, the wench with the great body & nothing much else.
To add to the fun, Agnes has a son (Pedro) who was conceived during an affair she was having while married to Jake. Jake informs us that Pedro ‘picks the menu’ of what they eat; Pedro gets everything Pedro wants. Pedro is a brat. Brats aren’t funny.
I didn’t like Jake, Agnes or Pedro. Adam seemed to be the only decent character & he was boring!
Jane isn’t much better as a mother to her & Jake’s 3 kids; their son comes to see mom & tells her he ‘loves her credit cards’. For most the movie, the Adler kids are happier than the freakin' Brady Bunch; they never seemed to stop smiling – when they all are seen crying together in bed, I just figured that the drugs must have worn off.
Jane keeps forgetting her appointments with Adam (& now we discover she’s adding a new bedroom onto the mansion as well – Why doesn’t this broad just buy a new f***ing house?) so he gives her the gift of an appointment book - & this is suppose to represent Adam’s romantic inclination towards her.
Jane & Jake get drunk together & end up in bed... Jake comes to the conclusion that they’re doing ‘something brilliant’ by getting back together... Yeah, these two should be accepted into MENSA...
Seeing these ‘beyond middle aged’ people acting like horny teens didn’t make me laugh, it made me queasy...
Lines are thrown out without any thought behind them – Jake tells a story to Jane where he asks, “Do you have any idea what it’s like to fly on a plane with someone who’s crying for 10 hours?” Then the punch line is, “I was talking about me!” While the women in the audience laughed hysterically at this tired set up, I was shaking my head because Jake WASN’T flying with someone who was crying for 10 hours, the woman with him was.
You may call that nitpicking, but there were several continuity problems that made this film look ‘sloppy’ as well as stupid.
Having graying at the temples Jake use ‘O M G’ was a clear case of a female writer writing for a male character as if he were one of her gay friends. “You’ve turned my world right side up,” Jake tells Jane & I almost spit out my frozen Junior Mint...
Then we discover Jane sees a psychiatrist (She lives in a mansion that she’s expanding, consults a plastic surgeon, sells cupcakes for a living & she NEEDS a psychoanalyst???
John Krasinski plays the Adler’s oldest daughter’s fiancé, Harley – this isn’t used as a punch line in the film, but his bride-to-be’s name is Laurel... Laurel & Harley. Might have been a chuckle if that had been pointed out, but it isn’t.
Anyway, Harley is fairly likeable, but he basically just witnesses Jake & Jane’s affair & keeps spouting, “Oh my God!” (I guess I should be thankful he didn’t keep using 'O M G') Krasinski does a nice job despite the lack of having anything meaningful to say.
Streep does get off one funny line when Jake OD’s on Flo-Max.
To make these characters seem even more juvenile a joint is introduced & Jane gets even more school-girlish & giggly.
Baldwin’s nude scene would have been funny if Jake wasn’t so pathetic (& the movie were more humorous leading up to it)
I kept thinking, “I would never allow someone who ruined my life back into it – Why does Jane?” – then it hit me – that’s right, she’s a teenager living in a wrinkled old body, it’s like Freaky Friday, but the teen doesn’t become the mom.
Near the end of this epic, Jane says, “So THAT’S the way grown-up’s talk.”
If only she’d discovered that 90 minutes earlier it would have saved me from having to listen to all her immature, insipid dialogue.