It's Complicated

I must say that I was surprised by this sudden sneak attack of an adult comedy. It had little to no buzz leading to its release, and I must say that I have seen no commercials or adverts for it anywhere. I also must admit that on walking into it, I had no idea what it was about except that it starred Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. Meryl's involvement was enough to sell me to the idea, but I just had no idea that the film would just be so damned funny.

In terms of plot, I hate to offer a simple pun of an answer. It's complicated.

In short, it follows Jane (Meryl Streep) as she copes with her divorce from Jake (Alec Baldwin). She meets another man, Adam (Steve Martin) and the delightful problems and honestly unforsee-able mix-ups begin to occur. I'm sure you can see now how this may appear formulaic, but I promise you that it is anything but.

The delightful thing about "It's Complicated" is that I honestly could not see what was going to happen next. It was a very innovative story, with an incredibly funny script. There were lines, and entire sequences that kept me in riotous laughter, and the joke never becomes stale. The main problem was ironically, its all-star cast.

They offer splendid performances to be sure, and Meryl does absolutely stunning work, but Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski in particular fall into the trap of playing the same exact people that we see every week on "30 Rock" and "The Office" respectively. Baldwin pops in with his "O-M-G" trademark, and Krasinski gives his type-cast eyebrow crinkle. It makes for good cheap laughter, but it brought me out of the movie and honestly just distracted.

Speaking of distractions, being someone who walked in fresh and trailer-less, I found myself confused at first about relationships and who was related to whom. Of course, about halfway through the movie, I found my bearings and was able to enjoy it again, but perhaps a few cut scenes or an unedited script could bear the responsibility of being the culprit.

These are all of course just nitpicks in the road of what is otherwise a hilarious film. I was expecting typical Hollywood rom-com fodder and instead found a thoughtful, hilarious and frankly eye-opening gem of a film.

B+