It's Complicated Review

The movie world revolves around me – sorry, but it’s true.

It’s not exactly a national secret that most major movies released these days are targeted at young men (like me). I’m not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing (actually, it’s a bad thing), that’s just the way things are.

It’s also why I keep telling anyone who’ll listen (it usually ends up being my long-suffering girlfriend Erica) that there’s a lot of money to be made by targeting the underserved portions of the moviegoing public – namely, young women, men over 50 and, ESPECIALLY, women over 50.

Now, I’m not saying “It’s Complicated” was made exclusively for women over 50 – it’s not like they check to see if you have gray hairs and/or a vagina when you buy your ticket. It’s just that after seeing this movie in a packed theatre, and missing a good portion of the dialogue because people were laughing so loud after jokes, I realized just how starving these people were for a movie made by and starring people just like them.

“It’s Complicated” is a funny, entertaining movie, but it’s not THAT good.

The movie stars Meryl Streep as Jane, who has been divorced from her ex-husband Jake for 10 years. During their son’s graduation, Jane and Jake fall back into bed and begin an affair. Meanwhile, Jane begins flirting with Adam (Steve Martin), the shy architect working on her house.

Streep (in a shocking turn of events) is very good as Jane and it’s always fun to see the capital-S Serious Actress cut loose and have a good time on screen (or at least more fun than it was in “Mamma Mia”). Still, unlike most Streep performances, I’m not really sure she brought anything to the table that a number of other actresses (like writer/director Nancy Meyers’ “Something’s Gotta Give” protagonist Diane Keaton) couldn’t have brought.

Baldwin, who really has brilliantly recalibrated his dark/serious screen persona from dramas to comedies over the last few years, gets most of the laughs as the insatiable and incorrigible Jake. Baldwin and Streep have a chemistry that comes more from them being top-notch pros than it does from anything written in the script. In fact, Baldwin is mostly just doing a softer variation of his Jack Donaghy character from “30 Rock.”

That’s probably why I found Steve Martin’s performance so appealing. His most popular comedic style has been that of a smartass (where he’s at his best), but in recent years he’s alternated between acting extremely harried in horrible family movies (the “Cheaper by the Dozen” saga) and just being annoying (the new “Pink Panther” movies). As the self-deprecating, wounded Adam, he showed a more vulnerable and likable side and I thought it worked really well.

The rest of the cast is not nearly as lucky. I actually would’ve been ok with editing out all of Jane and Jake’s kids. In fact, the only younger actor who stood out was John Krasinski as Jane and Jake’s son-in-law, though Krasinski mostly looks relieved to have the chance to be funny again since Jim has been so serious on “The Office” this year. It also would’ve been nice if Meyers had given Lake Bell (as Jake’s new, younger wife) something to play other than “all bitchy, all the time.”

In fact, Meyers seemed more concerned with art direction than she did fleshing out her supporting cast. (I dare you to take a look at Jane’s house or her bakery and NOT covet her life!)

Still, what do I know? For example, I thought the sequence where the main characters end up smoking what had to be the most powerful joint in the world was a bit unoriginal and incredibly predictable, but the audience in my theatre absolutely ate it up.

And there’s the rub – just because something isn’t 100% to my taste doesn’t mean that there isn’t a large number of people who’d be rolling in the aisles and clapping when a movie like this ends. (Did I just go triple negative on you?)

I think it’s cool that a comedy where the main cast is over 50 made $100 million. The people in my theatres obviously agreed and their immense enjoyment of this flick enhanced my own moviegoing experience.

It’s Complicated…B-