A mildly diverting tale of mid-life crisis, "It's Complicated" is a vanilla, inoffensive and sometimes fun movie that probably could have been more, but so what?
Meryl Streep plays Jane, a divorcee of ten years whose husband Jake (Alec Baldwin) left for a younger woman.
On the eve of their youngest's graduation, and just as Jane is putting the final touches on moving on with her life, Jake sweeps back in and the two start having an affair...with each other.
But as the title suggests, the potential emotional issues are magnified further as Jane has just started (finally) dating, in the person of Adam (Steve Martin) the architect who is designing an addition to her house.
With this trio, you get what you'd expect: solid acting, a dash of fun, and the occasional guffaw. The highlight is Jane, who is just learning the fine art of online video chatting, leaves her laptop on as Jake decides amor is the word of the day.
Nancy Meyers is becoming the matriarch of the safe chick flick (she also helmed the similarly-themed "Something's Gotta Give"), and it feels like she's in her comfort zone if not operating on auto-pilot. The humor is mostly safe and steady, well-delivered but not particularly original.
For a supporting cast, we get John Krasinski ("The Office) as the oddly-named Harley, Jane and Jake's knows-too-much son-in-law, who is really the only standout of their children.
There are just enough name actors to feel like an ensemble cast, but the big three are undoubtedly Streep, Martin and Baldwin, who are old pros and act it. They elevate what is at times potentially unwatchable material into something passable, and at times feeling almost inspired.
But don't be fooled: "It's Complicated" really isn't all that complex, and you're likely to forget it as quickly as you noticed it.
As is commonplace nowadays, blu-ray extras are more robust than the DVD counterpart, though they're still relatively sparse here. There's a featurette, an audio commentary, and the BD LIve feature, which allows access to a supply of bonus features including movie trailers.
Film: 3 Yaps Extras: 3 Yaps