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It's Complicated (film)

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It's Complicated
Theatrical poster
Directed byNancy Meyers
Written byNancy Meyers
Produced byNancy Meyers
Scott Rudin
StarringMeryl Streep
Steve Martin
Alec Baldwin
CinematographyJohn Toll
Edited byJoe Hutshing
David Moritz
Music byHeitor Pereira
Hans Zimmer
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
December 25, 2009 (2009-12-25)
Running time
121 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$85 million[1][2]
Box office$219,069,702 (worldwide) [3]

It's Complicated is a 2009 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Nancy Meyers, starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.[4][5][6][7]

Plot

Jane (Meryl Streep) is a self-reliant divorcée who owns a successful bakery in Santa Barbara, California. After 10 years of separation and three grown children, she finally achieves a good relationship with her ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin), a successful attorney who has remarried the much-younger Agness (Lake Bell).

Jane and Jake attend their son Luke's college graduation in New York. A dinner together develops into an affair, making Jane "the other woman". Part of Jane knows it is wrong, since Jake and Agness are still married and trying to have a baby; the other part of Jane relishes being "the other woman" and continues the affair with Jake in Santa Barbara. Jake is just enjoying the clandestine sex and doesn't show much interest in Jane's growth as a person. He however feels nostalgic for the family life he once had with Jane, particularly her cooking, and being close with his children, and wonders if he should be growing old with Jane rather than starting a new family in late middle-age with Agness. While Agness has Jake scheduled for regular sessions at the fertility clinic, Jake secretly administers sperm control pills, and leaves one day to meet Jane for lunch.

Jake and Jane's children know nothing of their parents' affair, although Harley (John Krasinski), who is engaged to their daughter Lauren, spots them in a hotel and keeps silent. Agness knows nothing, as Jake still has sex with her on demand; her five-year-old son Pedro suspects something when Jake makes phone calls from the bathroom.

Complicating matters is Adam (Steve Martin), an architect hired to remodel Jane's home, who is himself healing from a divorce of his own, and who has begun to fall in love with Jane. He spends time getting to know her as a person. On the night of Luke's graduation party, Jane invites Adam to the party, but is high when he picks her up because she has smoked a joint that Jake had given her earlier. Later, at the party, Adam also smokes the joint and becomes high as well. Jake becomes jealous observing them, but with some cajoling by Jane, he gets high as well. Harley confronts Jake and Jane, stressed from keeping their secret, and eventually agrees to smoke some pot as well. Agness then observes Jake and Jane dancing together, and becomes suspicious of their renewed closeness.

When they leave, Adam asks if they could have something to eat so Jane takes him to her bakery-restaurant and offers to make him anything; he asks for a chocolate croissant, which they make from scratch laughing and having fun. This takes hours, and they enjoy the time together. As her architect, he shows great sensitivity in listening to her needs and vision for her remodeled kitchen and bedroom.

Jake leaves Agness, who kicks him out of their house as he confesses that he's still in love with Jane, who rebuffs his gesture. Eventually via webcam under embarrassing circumstances, Adam learns Jane is still seeing Jake. Adam knows his boundaries and tells Jane he cannot continue seeing her as this triangle will only lead to heartbreak. Her kids also find out, and they are not happy about Mom and Dad getting together again, as they are still recovering from the divorce ten years ago. Jane tells them she is not getting back with their dad, who then drives off in his Porsche while the children go to Harley and Lauren's house. Jane soon reconciles with the kids, citing that she wanted to do this for herself, which they sympathize. When she returns home, Jake awaits her to talk, and the two end their affair on amicable terms.

The film ends with Adam returning to Jane's house to work on her addition and before the credits roll Jane and Adam are seen laughing while walking into her house.

Cast

Production

In May 2008, Nancy Meyers agreed to a project for Universal Studios that she would write and direct, to be co-produced with Scott Rudin.[8] The project was referred to as The Untitled Nancy Meyers Project during its inception and early production. Establishing commitments from the principals began in 2008, with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin entering discussions in August,[4][6] and Steve Martin joining the cast in October.[5] Casting continued through 2009, with Zoe Kazan, Lake Bell, and Hunter Parrish joining in January,[9] John Krasinski in February,[10] Rita Wilson in March,[11] and Caitlin Fitzgerald in June.[12]

The sets were easy to design. Most scenes take place in the protagonist's home and interior courtyard, and as such the architectural details had to be fastidiously worked out, but the rooms were kept bare to reflect the character's functional tastes and limited budget. There are relatively few decorations, just "a bunch of thrift-store things haphazardly thrown together", in the words of production designer Jon Hutman. The building itself is a traditional 1920s Spanish-ranch-style adobe-mud house which "epitomised the Santa Barbara area."[13]

Filming commenced in New York City in April 2009,[14] and completed in August 2009.[15] It's Complicated was released on December 25, 2009.[16][17]

Reception

Critics

The film has received generally mixed reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 57% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 161 reviews, with an average score of 5.8/10. The critical consensus is: Despite fine work by an appealing cast, It's Complicated is predictable romantic comedy fare, going for broad laughs instead of subtlety and nuance.[18] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score from 1 to 100 based on reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 57% based on 30 reviews.[19]

Box office

The film took #4 in its opening weekend behind Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel with $22,100,820. It currently has a total gross of $112,927,070 in North America and a total of $214,727,200 worldwide.[3]

Awards and nominations

Awards
Award Category Recipient(s) Outcome
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Comedy Film Film Nominated
Golden Globe Awards[20] Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Meryl Streep Nominated
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy Nancy Meyers Nominated
Best Screenplay Nancy Meyers Nominated
National Board of Review Awards Best Cast Alec Baldwin, Meryl Streep and Steve Martin Won
Satellite Awards Best Film – Musical or Comedy Film Nominated
BAFTA Awards Best Supporting Actor Alec Baldwin Nominated

Home media

It's Complicated became available on DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday, April 27, 2010.[21]

References

  1. ^ Abramowitz, Rachel (September 12, 2009). "Meryl Streep's got legs". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 6, 2010. With the exception of "It's Complicated", with a budget of $75 million [...]
  2. ^ Fritz, Ben (December 28, 2009). "Holiday box-office take is highest in recent history". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 3, 2010. [...] "It's Complicated", which stars Meryl Streep, wasn't particularly impressive given its budget of about $85 million.
  3. ^ a b "It's Complicated (2009)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
  4. ^ a b Fleming, Michael (August 5, 2008). "Streep in deep with Meyers". Variety. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  5. ^ a b Fleming, Michael (October 13, 2008). "Steve Martin joins Nancy Meyers film". Variety. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  6. ^ a b Fleming, Michael (August 14, 2008). "Baldwin flirts with romantic comedy". Variety. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  7. ^ Labrecque, Jeff (August 7, 2009). "Meryl Streep on the prowl in 'Its Complicated" trailer". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
  8. ^ Fleming, Michael (May 7, 2008). "Universal woos next Meyers movie". Variety. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  9. ^ Fleming, Michael (January 21, 2009). "Meyers casts Kazan, Bell, Parrish". Variety. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  10. ^ Goldberg, Matt (February 10, 2009). "John Krasinski Boards Untitled Nancy Meyers Project". Collider. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  11. ^ Kemp, Stuart (March 20, 2009). "Wilson in demand". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  12. ^ Kroll, Justin (June 7, 2009). "Players". Variety.
  13. ^ Harrison, Penny (2010-01-09). "Home movies". Herald Sun. p. Home magazine, pp. 16–17.
  14. ^ "Films recently shot in New York". Variety. April 21, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  15. ^ Reuters, Thomas (August 14, 2009). "Still the love interest". Screen. Retrieved 2009-08-23. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  16. ^ Goldstein, Patrick (August 17, 2009). "Universal takes a public spanking for its movie flops". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  17. ^ "Universal Pictures' Fall/Holiday 2009 Sneak Preview!". Movieweb. August 13, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  18. ^ "It's Complicated Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved June 11, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "It's Complicated (2009): Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  20. ^ "Nominations and Winners". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. December 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-15.
  21. ^ "NBC Universal Store".
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