It's Not That Complicated

Yesterday afternoon I found myself with some time to kill around Penn Station while I waited for my sister and her family to arrive in New York. The only movie playing in the neighborhood that I was interested to seeing was Nancy Meyer’s It's Complicated.

It has been so exciting to me to read all of the popular articles being published lately about women directors. (Thank you, Manohla Dargis!) Long overdue conversations are finally happening, and women directors are finally getting full stories, not the least of which was Daphne Merkin's New York Times Magazine piece, "Can Anybody Make a Movie For Women?". As problematic as that article might have been (...), I was glad to see it. So all of the hype could only lead to disappointment. And there's not a whole lot more to say.

The scenery and music of Complicated were as sweet and sunny as the dialogue, and so was the whole experience. It was surprisingly saccharine, rosy and slick, though that should not have surprised me. The consistently vocal gentleman next to me, who was actively enjoying the film throughout, said at the finish that it was a good movie for TV, and I'm afraid I found that observation astute. The vaginaplasty joke also REALLY worked on him. Personally, I liked it when Jake (Alec Baldwin) expressed his approval of former wife and present lover Jane's (Meryl Streep) lack of bikini wax saying, "You've gone native. I like it." But my favorite part was when Jake grabs Jane's crotch post-coitum and declares with a satisfied smile, "Home sweet home." Jake's desire to win Jane back is comedic, way overdone and embarrassing. But mostly so for Nancy Meyers.