It's Complicated... And Surprisingly Good, Too

Last week, my friend Monica came up with the idea of a monthly movie night. She invited a group of women friends out for a pre-movie drink and then to see a show, preferably one our husbands wouldn't want to see. And so, last night I found myself at the movie theater for the second time in two weeks (which has probably not happened in 9 years or so) watching It's Complicated.

It's Complicated is a story of a divorced couple (Streep and Baldwin) who rekindle their romance at their son's graduation in NYC. The problem? Jake (Baldwin) has remarried (a much younger woman) and Jane (Streep) has finally started getting on with her post-divorce life. With the incredible cast, which includes Alec Baldwin, Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and John Krasinski, the movie should've been an instant home run. Instead, it scored a meager 50% on rottentomatoes.com's "tomatometer".

Certainly, the movie had some problems. The biggest issue for me was that a large part of the plot centered around Jane (Streep) moving on with her life by building a giant addition on her already beautiful Santa Barbara home, and then meeting achitect Adam (Martin) as a result. This immediately made no sense to me. Who builds an addition when their children move OUT? If anything, she should've been downsizing to a smaller house. The other reason for the low reviews probably has to do with expectations - for such a striking cast, this was a lightweight, fun and unOscarworthy movie.

All that said, I really enjoyed the film. In 30 Rock, Baldwin outshines all the other actors whenever he's on screen. That's hard to do when you're on screen with Steep, who gives him a run for the money with her own brilliant performance, as usual. I loved that this was a story largely between two fifty year-old characters. The movie treated their age with both humor and sensitivity. And I liked the premise of a divorced couple reuniting, and the issues surrounding that with their children and with each other. Plus, there were some hilarious scenes, like when Streep and Martin show up at her children's party completely stoned or when Krasinski tries not to see Balwin and Streep kissing in an elevator.

Of the five of us who went to the movie, four of us have divorced parents. We had a short but interesting discussion in the parking lot about whether the movie was realistic or not. Unfortunately it was too late after the movie for a second drink and longer discussion, but It's Complicated is the type of movie that you want to talk about. It offers food for thought not just about divorced couples, but about rekindling old romances, motherhood, the responsibility parents have to their children, affairs, relationships and old age.

The best thing about the movie? Getting to go out on a Monday night and see friends and, without having to hire a sitter, actually going to see a movie in the theater. Here's hoping some good chick flicks come out in February.