5.0°

'It's Complicated'

Universal Pictures

1 hour, 58 minutes

It's not often that a movie title so accurately describes the experience of going to see said movie, but this week's "It's Complicated" does just that. Not that my experience is in any way unique -- it's the same problem faced by any couple with very young children. How do you get a night away? And just how valuable is that time, once you get it? And would you rather spend that time, once achieved, with a bunch of smarmy, rich baby boomers whose biggest problem seems to be boredom, or with your spouse? Turns out that the answers to these questions are actually pretty simple after all.

"It's Complicated" stars the marvelously talented Meryl Streep, as well as Alec Baldwin, who has proved himself a very funny leading man character on the TV series, "30 Rock." The two are divorcees who rekindle their romance in an illicit affair 10 years after their initial split up. Streep is single, but her ex has remarried a much younger woman. Steve Martin and "The Office's" John Krasinski are also on hand to provide a third leg to the inevitable love triangle and as the grounded son-in-law, respectively.

I was actually kind of excited to see this movie, despite the obvious chick flick overtones, partly because it looked pretty funny, and partly because my wife wanted to go, giving us an opportunity for our first date since our daughter was born some eight weeks ago.

So, on Sunday we packed up the diaper bag, gathered the bottles, the pacifiers, the extra clothing, and the kids and carted them all off to our friends', who had generously offered to watch them for the evening. Next came dinner, drinks and calm, relaxed conversation before the show. Then it was tickets and seats and previews for movies good and bad, and finally the movie itself. Within 15 minutes, we were both thinking, though neither of us said anything for quite a while, "We left our nice evening for this?"

Streep is Jane, a successful resteranteur with three beautiful, successful children, loads of friends, and a potential suitor in Steve Martin, her mild-mannered architect, Adam. For some reason, she decides to strike up an affair with ex-husband Jake (Baldwin) whom she was married to for 19 years and has been divorced from for 10. The two have an easy, amiable banter, unlike the strained relationship Jake has with his new wife, 20 years his junior. She wants kids, which is only adding to the stress.

When Jane's future son-in-law Harley, played by Krasinski, stumbles on to the affair, it's he that must provide a much needed voice of calm and reason. Will Jane and Jake take the plunge and get back together? Will Adam kick it into gear and sweep Jane off her feet? Will Harley be able to keep it all a secret from his bride-to-be? Actually, I have no idea. With about 30 minutes left in the film, my wife looked at me and asked hesitantly, "Do you want to go?" "Absolutely, I do."

The movie, while not great, is not, under normal circumstances, bad enough to walk out of. I've certainly sat through plenty of worse movies this year alone. But when it comes down to it, "It's Complicated" is not a movie for me. It is made for a narrow niche market -- women, mostly, in their late 50s and early 60s who want to be reminded that there is still the possibility of torrid romance in their lives.

There is certainly nothing wrong with a movie targeting this admittedly underserved market, but, as a result of fairly mediocre writing, the film has almost nothing to offer anyone else. Streep is fine, Martin is fine, and Baldwin chews the scenery like you'd expect, but the plot is contrived, the dialogue unbelievable, and the characters unsympathetic. Jane has little to complain about, and Jake is basically a manipulator.

I know I was supposed to be charmed by their banter, but I was mostly uncomfortable listening to their slightly creepy sex talk. At first I just assumed I was too young for this movie, but then writer/director Nancy Meyers tees up one of the laziest cliches in the comedy world -- the pot joke. Suddenly, watching Meryl Streep and Steve Martin giggle stupidly while scarfing snacks, I felt too old for the movie. It's almost as if Hollywood, in the last five years or so, has decided that marijuana is completely safe, inoffensive and universally enjoyed by people of all ages. Not to get into the big legalization debate, but this is at the same time the industry is demonizing tobacco. Is the Pot Growers Association paying kickbacks to the big movie studios?

For a while, Krasinski was our only anchor. As an actor, I'm not sure Krasinski has anything to offer besides his affable Jim Halpert character from "The Office," but if it works, it works. His scenes, at least what I saw for the first two-thirds of the movie, are funny and led us to several times murmur, "Thank goodness for Jim."

But then the pot scene comes along and reliable, responsible Harley joins in the toking. Suddenly we had no one to relate to, and no interest in the outcome of the movie. What my wife and I did have interest in was the rest of our rare evening out alone.

So we left, heading to a cozy restaurant for wine and appetizers, picking up where we left off before our hour-and-a-half interruption.

Don't get me wrong. I think good movies make good dates. I also think bad movies make good dates. But mediocre, white bread movies with little to laugh at or even care about, make for pretty poor dates. Avoiding such movies is one decision that's not complicated at all.

Grade: Perhaps in fairness I should refrain from giving this movie a final grade considering I didn't finish it, but suffice it to say it wasn't looking good.

"It's Complicated" is rated R for sexual dialogue, drug use, and language.

Chris Jenness is a freelance graphic designer, artist and movie buff who lives in Nikiski.