Review: It’s Complicated
I have recently been able to go see It’s Complicated, or as I like to think of it as Something Has to Give: Redux. I am not saying that the movie wasn’t enjoyable because I definitely enjoyed the movie. This is probably because I was expecting absolutely nothing from the film whatsoever. I dismissed it as a geriatric chick flick for white-collar yuppies. While I did enjoy the movie I will note that I would have probably had a better experience if I was one of the following:
1. A woman
2. Married
3. Divorced
4. Understood the intricacies of upper-class existence
5. Was “of a certain age”
With that being said I thought that the movie did have a degree of universality. Relationships, particularly failed ones, are pretty common, despite one’s socioeconomic status. The story is fairly simple. Jane Addler (Meryl Streep) has an affair with her ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin) while attending their son’s graduation in New York. The “complicated” part about the film is whether said affair is a positive or a negative.
Jane is about as vanilla a character as they come. She is together mentally and financially. She has a good family. A good group of friends. She has a gorgeous house in Santa Barbra, CA. When I first saw it on screen it looked like a summer home for God. That is one thing about director Nancy Meyers; she never deals with poor characters. All her women in her films are always “fiscally endowed”. Jane works at her own bakery that resembles a Starbucks for the wealthy set. I suppose those chocolate croissants, blueberry scones, and vanilla chai lattes must be a pretty penny because Jane is living the good life. The fact that Jane succumbs to the wiles of Jake takes her to a place she had forgotten existed in her. It is refreshing to see Meryl Streep embrace her comedic side. She does have impeccable timing and great chemistry with Alec Baldwin.
Alec Baldwin as Jake is a revelation. I mean not in regards to a superb acting performance. But just to see Alec Baldwin transition from being Mr. Handsome in the 1990s with films like The Hunt for Red October and Malice and he has embraced his new “santaesque” physique. He doesn’t have to be the prototypical leading man now. He definitely gets to have the best lines of the film as Jake. He hams it up and embraces his new identity as an aged gentleman. That is partially why the affair with Jane begins in the first place. His current wife Agness (Lake Bell) has all the physical characteristics that a man could want. But she also possesses the emotional depth and stability of a graham cracker. And her son Pedro (Emjay Anthony) is such a whiny little troglodyte it is no wonder Jake wants to escape his suburban nightmare for the dependable and “native” (if you see the movie you will understand) Jane.
This leads us to Adam (Steve Martin) and his role in this isosceles love triangle. It is apparent VERY early in the film that two of the characters should be together and the other character should not be. Adam doesn’t have a lot of screen time unfortunately. He is the anti-Jake. He’s considerate, selfless, and careful. While Jake is selfish, manipulative, and morally lax. Jake is fun to watch and his persona radiates off the screen but his flaws which endear him to the audience also create the same disconnect which ended the marriage between he and Jane in the first place. Adam, Jane, and Jake all share the best scene in the film. All I will say is that they are all very “cool”.
There was one scene in the film that captured my interest because it raised a good question. Is infidelity a bad thing? Jane goes to her psychiatrist for guidance on her tryst with Jake and he gives her a piece of advice which I had never contemplated. Maybe adultery isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world? In my hyper puritanical Midwestern upbringing I was always taught to believe that the desecration of the marriage vows was a sin against God and the institute of marriage. The film points out that some marriages are inherently flawed and that a slight indiscretion or two isn’t a bad thing. In fact, said spontaneity can bring a sense of life and vigor to those involved. In the film, the affair has an overall positive effect for both Jake and Jane. I know it is a film and totally fictitious but the aspect of adultery is something very real and rampant. I think infidelity is wrong. But I think an artificial relationship is even more wrong. Passion is fleeting in most relationships. Unfortunately it tends to dim with age. But to re-capture the passion of love and romance is something that everyone who ever lost it wishes they could do.
The other aspect of the film which was poignant was the ramifications for the children of divorced parents. Jake and Jane have three children together. The children don’t seem damaged but one of them recollects of never having seem an amiable moment between her parents. As a child of divorce, like most of generation X, I could empathize with her plight. Divorce DOES affect children. In fact, that is probably the party most affected by divorce. And not just the divorce but the entire mental design of relationships is forever changed. The children of Jake and Jane love their parents. But loving them being together is another idea all together. Family does complicate relationships and children are usually the collateral damage in divorce. They try to understand it and wish it never happened but sometimes it is necessary.
The film did a pretty good job with dealing with the subject matter. It wasn’t exactly Kramer vs. Kramer but it didn’t need to be. The complications of life are enough as it is. Marriage is a beautiful thing, but I think the film leaves the viewer feeling that like all beautiful things sometimes they end. It wasn’t a prototypical chick flick but then again I had zero expectations for the film. The film did bring up some good points and aired out most of the complications, which is pretty good for anyone.
posted by Duane @ 10:28 PM
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