Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin

"It's Complicated" isn't: It's pretty simple.

It's simply a good time, a relatively adult and easygoing conveyance for three ace performers of a certain age, working through a few comic machinations created by writer-director Nancy Meyers. Her earlier romantic comedy, "Something's Gotta Give," offered a similar payout. You like that one, you'll like this one.

The fun isn't related to directorial finesse; if anything, that earlier Meyers film starring Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson was better-tooled than "It's Complicated," which has an oddly jumpy editing rhythm, offering five abrupt separate shots when one or two would do. And yet, this tale of a Santa Barbara, Calif., restaurateur, her ex-husband and her architect transcends its modest ambitions, which mainly involve making you wish you lived with the carefree "Recession? What recession?" fiscal abandon these people do.

The movie has three huge ringers: Meryl Streep, now firmly entrenched in her role as box-office draw; Alec Baldwin; and Steve Martin. Plus there's a montage of Streep and Martin baking chocolate croissants guaranteed to keep you thinking about chocolate croissants until the next time you buy one.

As in "Something's Gotta Give," the push-pull dynamic is between a woman who should know better and her wolfish but charming pursuer. Ten years after their divorce, Jane (Streep) and remarried Jake (Baldwin) strike up an affair. Is it love? Lust? Lustlove? Meantime, the nice fellow overseeing Jane's elaborate house remodel (Martin) has hopes for romance, and Jane's not uninterested, but ...

The movie begins with the most relaxing bossa nova theme imaginable, composed most likely by Heitor Pereira. (The film's other credited composer, Hans Zimmer, tends to work in a bigger, more aggravating vein.) The script's weakest feature is the blandly drawn kids. Its best is Meyers' ability to shift gears from ruefully amusing reflections about marriage and adultery and what we do for the sake of Eros, to bedroom farce, as in the scene featuring Streep and Baldwin sneaking into a hotel suite, much to the astonishment of their future son-in-law (John Krasinski). You know where it's going, but Meyers' script is deft, and even cliches such as older-folks-smoking-their-first-marijuana-in-decades lead somewhere fruitful. The way Martin's uptight character tries to act not-stoned at a party simply by squinting? Very funny.

Speaking of which: "It's Complicated" garnered an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America for "some drug content and sexuality." Universal Studios' ratings appeal (it wanted a PG-13) was denied because the scene of pot-smoking led to no bad consequences. Terrific. Meantime a heinous, errantly violent soul-crusher like "Sherlock Holmes" waltzes off with a PG-13? Thanks for the guidance. I'm not advocating drug use. I'm advocating a ratings system that isn't smoking something.

 

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"It's Complicated" Movie Trailer

Writer/director Nancy Meyers (Somethings Gotta Give, The Holiday) directs Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin in Its Complicated, a comedy about love, divorce and everything in between.

Jane (Streep) is the mother of three grown kids, owns a thriving Santa Barbara bakery/restaurant and has—after a decade of divorce—an amicable relationship with her ex-husband, attorney Jake (Baldwin). But when Jane and Jake find themselves out of town for their sons college graduation, things start to get complicated. An innocent meal together turns into the unimaginable—an affair. With Jake remarried to the much younger Agness (Lake Bell), Jane is now, of all things, the other woman.

Caught in the middle of their renewed romance is Adam (Martin), an architect hired to remodel Janes kitchen. Healing from a divorce of his own, Adam starts to fall for Jane, but soon realizes hes become part of a love triangle.

 

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MPAA rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, some startling images and a scene of suggestive material).

Running time: 2:10.

Cast: Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes); Jude Law (Dr. Watson); Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler); Mark Strong (Lord Blackwood); Eddie Marsan (Inspector Lestrade); Kelly Reilly (Mary Morstan).

Credits: Directed by Guy Ritchie; written by Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg; produced by Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin. A Warner Bros. Pictures release.