ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Python Hyena It's Complicated (2009): Dir: Nancy Meyers / Cast: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, John Krasinski, Lake Bell: Hilarious romantic comedy about regret. Meryl Streep plays a chef and mother, and Alec Baldwin plays her ex husband who is involved in an unsuccessful relationship with a younger woman. Director Nancy Meyers springs humour from the affair between the two. Meyers is a bankable director having made such entertaining films as The Holiday and Something's Gotta Give. Streep brings out the guilt, confusion and yearning of a woman drawn back to the past. She delights in the youthful feeling of affection. Baldwin brings out the regret of his past decision and the amusement of rediscovering what he originally had. His fascination with young love turns into a demanding standoff with a son who shares his mother's sense of self. Steve Martin plays a construction contractor whom becomes involved with Streep. He is innocent but unable to sideline Baldwin's pursuits. In the end he is in the right state of mind. Other roles are pretty much cardboard mainly consisting of the couple's children who band together and hunch on the behavior of their mother and father. Amongst those is John Krasinski as Streep's son, and Lake Bell as Baldwin's wife and neither can stand against the three leads. It examines marriage and relationships and other complications. Score: 8 ½ / 10

Betty S This was an overall good movie, lots of funny bits by many of the actors, but to me, and this is a spoiler… so don't read any further if you don't want to know what happens…to me, a movie is a movie in its entirety and if the ending is poor, then the movie's poor. Here's another spoiler about another movie…You don't want someone to finally find their true love and then in the next scene have them drown in a body of water next to where they lived their whole life? What!? That's another movie that you probably know about (Message in a Bottle), that had a very poor ending and I hated the movie BECAUSE of the ending. I would've given THIS movie an 8 or 9, except the ending was totally unbelievable and it absolutely sucked and ruined the movie for me, so I had to bring it down to a 5, which is really generous considering they chose that terrible ending. Did I mention I didn't like the ending? ;) Many romantic comedies I will watch over and over but I can't watch this one when it comes on TV because I know how it ends and I hate the ending, so why bother?! Don't waste your time on this one. Watch these instead - copy them into your notes, take a picture: The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, About Time, The Christmas Hope, Angels and Ornaments; Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas; The Christmas Wish, New in Town, You Can't Take it With You, A Season for Miracles, Christmas Magic, Matchmaker Santa, Something's Gotta Give, Have a Little Faith, The Christmas Secret, As Good as it Gets, The Nine Lives of Christmas, The Christmas Shepherd, Saving Mr. Banks or Chef!!! One more: A Very Merry Mix-Up. Enjoy!

ricardito-1 I had heard about this film on its release but didn't check it out until it came on TV one early evening, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Meryl is delightfully funny, Alec Baldwin smolders, and Steve Martin is adorable as the underdog. Its a warm gentle movie, and although I found it hard to believe how the characters were functioning salary wise it made for very good entertainment. For a romantic comedy it is definitely one of the better ones, and the opening scene is breathtaking. It's nice to see older relationships under the spotlight, and to see the over 40s being sexy and fun, showing its not all about the young nubile ones in the world. The funniest scene is the laptop scene it had me howling with laughter, it was very well done. I wish that they had used the little kid Pablo more, but otherwise a very enjoyable film.

spelvini Every time Alec Baldwin appears on screen in this flick in some gnarly moment immersed in emotional conflict between his ex-wife Meryl Streep and children there's always slightly bitter-sweet feelings in the viewer because we're reminded of his real-life domestic issues between him and his real ex-wife Kim Bassinger and their child which were made so public when the power couple officially broke up.Successful restaurant owner Jane Adler (Meryl Streep) is saddened as her three children have all moved out and when her ex-husband attorney Jake Adler (Alec Baldwin) approaches her for a romantic reconnecting she must reevaluate their differences and possible new beginning. Jake's current trophy wife Agness (LakeBell) is pressuring Jake for another child, and sensitive architect Adam Schaffer (Steve Martin) begins a relationship with Jane. As Jake and Jane go through numerous sexual exploits they begin to understand themselves better and their differences and when it seems there is no hope for the future, they realize just what they mean to each other.These are fleeting nano-moments as Baldwin manages to anchor this movie in ways that allow the mediocre writing to soar. His character never comes off as some obnoxious attorney but rather as a needy sincere professional approaching his golden years. His argument to Streep's Jane at one point is solid when he claims that they are in the perfect place in their lives to make it work between them, since the children are moved out and they can finally spend time with each other without distraction.The who-cares attitude we get from the picture is infused by the antics of the lead characters Jake and Jane and the overt way that the script insists on hitting the clichéd high points in the narrative and the feel-good gee, what-if concept of two successful middle-aged people having an affair since one of them has divorce and married a trophy wife.Even the script is pastry thin. Writer/director Nancy Meyers wisely hands the material over to a stalwart cast Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, John Krasinski, and Lake Bell and although the real comedic heavy lifting is managed by Baldwin, his partner Meryl Streep shows her particular comedic side as a lonely successful business woman and mother in her fifties who hasn't dated in years.Writer/director Nancy Meyers relates the entire commerce between men and women to food, and in particular to how food, and drink bond couples and families. When Jake and Jane reconnect it occurs during a mistaken meal together that they stumble on, opening the door to a night of renewed coupling. When Jane turns it on to win over Adam's affection an extensive sequence involves their preparing chocolate croissants which brings their love together.Jane's core problem with her relationships is that it is defined by her handling of food, and by extension her male partners are insulated by how they redefine meals and other consumables. After a night of getting high and dancing Jane drags Adam back to her factory and in essence puts him to work before making love to him using the food as a conduit. When Jane agrees to a nightly tryst with Jake she temps him with a voiced menu including his favorite chocolate cake, and when Jake stands her up.The core issues with Jane's inability to connect with men is reflected in her own inability to connect honestly with her own feelings, so when she urgently tracks down her analyst and asks him to tell it's okay to have an affair with her married husband, she is relived when he merely suggest that she "let it go" and explore what she feels about Jake.The movie also stacks the deck with some characters coming across with little sympathy. LakeBell's trophy wife Agness is a no-nonsense single mother who lacks little soft points. She orders Jake around and has him going to a fertility lab every other day so they can have a child of their own. It is a shame that Agness isn't given more sympathetic moments. She is introduced as a snake charmer who harangues Jake through several scenes and only manages to get one humanizing moment when she looks at Jake and sees his love for Jane.Agness's young son from a previous marriage Emjay Anthony's Pedro is an undisciplined terror, and Jake is helpless and unmotivated to rein him in. In one small scene the Gestapo-type cross examination that Pedro lays on Jake will make any single mother rethink her home-schooling techniques.If you have gone through a divorce, or even had a break up, and even if you're not in a mid-life love affair, you'll have a fun time watching Baldwin, Streep and all the others in this bedroom farce, which delivers some real poignancy at the end.