IT’S COMPLICATED

Nancy’s Movie Ratings:

• Absolutely must see in the theater
• Must see on Demand
• Will see on an airplane if too tired to work
• Might see on Demand if nothing else and really too tired to read
• Might see if hospitalized for long recovery and have seen everything else
• Will definitely see if in prison and the only film playing

I wanted to see “It’s Complicated” because I thought Nancy Meyer’s last film “Something’s Got to Give,” was a hit in so many ways. It was entertaining, and of course Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson are both reliably entertaining performers. I liked it so much that I saw it twice and downloaded the script and read the script twice.

I haven’t followed Alec Baldwin much since he ballooned ten or fifteen years ago. I just lost interest, and have never seen his TV show and can’t even remember what it’s called. Meryl Streep is a national treasure of course, and Steve Martin is adorable. He once approached me and my friend Grace Gabe on Romero Canyon Trail in Santa Barbara to meet our whippets (the late) Emma Bovary and Charlotte Brontë. He’s a brilliant actor but also a pretty good writer, and I enjoyed Shopgirl, and also a piece he wrote about his father in the New Yorker a few years back.

“It’s Complicated” takes place on my old home turf of Santa Barbara. Jane (Streep) owns and operates a luxurious bakery and lives in a 22 million dollar estate in Montecito that she bought with her divorce cash. She’s flush enough to hand her credit card to her son so he can live it up on graduation night, and bankroll any or all of her desires and the desires of her children.

Jake (Baldwin) drives a black 100 thousand dollar Porsche and is remarried to a much younger vixen who has a demonic child from a fling she had while he was chasing her.

Jane and Jake’s three children are played by three forgettable actors, which really begged the question why they were cast. One of the really fun aspects of “Something’s Got to Give” was that the daughter was played by Amanda Peet, who is completely precious. And the doctor was played by Keanu Reeves, so there were no lackluster performances.

Steve Martin plays Adam an architect who is going to finally remodel the dump Streep has been forced to live in for ten years.

Before any interest can develop between Adam and Jane, Jake makes his move and Jane and Jake begin an affair.

Someone please tell me why an obese actor can take his clothing off on screen and be considered sexy when an obese woman actor would get nothing but scorn and ridicule? Reality check, Alec Baldwin you need to lose at least 75 pounds, if not more. You’re huge, you’re gross, and you are not sexy (even your hands are fat).

This movie had all the reassuring scenes for “older women” about how plastic surgery is superficial and young women are only sexy but have no substance and how rich and rewarding it is to be on your own and so you can stop feeling bad about being dumped. The messages were one sided and heavy handed. I wanted to scream!

It was fun though to see Santa Barbara as I lived there for 18 years and it’s truly a gorgeous little city by the sea. And I didn’t totally hate this movie. “It’s Complicated” was entertaining in parts, but for me only to the extent that I learned what NOT TO DO in a story.

Nancy’s Movie Rating: Must see on Demand.