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It's Complicated

EMAILPRINTUniversal Pictures

It's Complicated reviews
57
6.3 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 49 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy  |  Romance

Written by: Nancy Meyers

Directed by: Nancy Meyers

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 25, 2009

Running Time: minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for some drug content and sexuality

Starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, John Krasinski, and Lake Bell

Jane 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. But when Jane and Jake find themselves out of town for their son’s 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, Jane is now, of all things, the other woman. Caught in the middle of their renewed romance is Adam, an architect hired to remodel Jane's kitchen. Healing from a divorce of his own, Adam starts to fall for Jane, but soon realizes he's become part of a love triangle. Should Jane and Jake move on with their lives, or is love truly lovelier the second time around? It's... complicated. (Universal Pictures)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

The romantic comedy about a divorced couple having an affair manages to be both light on its feet and heavy enough to deliver something of a message.

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75

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Both actors are a lot better than this material requires – or deserves.

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75

New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott

The result: a fun and sweet romantic comedy that lands comfortably on the smart side of vacant, along the way offering a pleasant and satisfying holiday diversion for the grown-ups in the room.

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75

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

It's Complicated isn’t: It’s pretty simple. It’s simply a good time.

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75

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Ends up being one of the end-year's best sources of pure entertainment. And for those who believe laughter is the best medicine, there's more than a bellyful or two to be found here.

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75

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Streep is in movie star mode, and she’s irresistible. But Baldwin achieves something not many men have been able to with Streep: You notice him.

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75

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Funny even when it relies heavily on age-old, old-age gags.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

I enjoyed the spectacle of middle-aged people making spectacles of themselves.

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70

Slate Dana Stevens

Just beneath this movie's gleaming high-end surfaces beats the heart of a classic screwball comedy.

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70

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The comedy approaches true hilarity only when Meyers resorts to the surefire gimmick of having the oldsters get massively stoned at a party, though Streep's dilemma is handled well enough for the movie to accumulate some gravitas as it nears the two-hour mark.

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70

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

What Meyers doesn't do is take chances. She sticks to formula and predictability. In "Complicated," this is as much a matter of casting as writing.

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67

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

It’s Complicated is the sort of “mature” character piece the French do regularly and better (and without the need for quotation marks around “mature”), but the cast at least helps relieve some of the tidiness that belies the title.

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67

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

It's Complicated is middle-aged porn, the specialty of Meyers, who also set ladies and interior decorators drooling over homes and gardens in 2006's “The Holiday.”

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63

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

You don't have to feel guilty for lapping up this froth. Just don't expect nourishment.

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63

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

There's funny stuff here. We like everybody.

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63

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams

It's funny but (sorry, ladies) unrealistic that Jake continuously sneaks away from his young wife to canoodle with Jane. Baldwin is a blast, but the role requires him to indulge in indignities such as a naked webcam conversation.

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63

New York Post Lou Lumenick

It's Complicated is basically "Avatar" for women of a certain age, with blond highlights replacing blue skin.

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60

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Pleasurable, daffy if at times daft.

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58

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

The movie's anchored by a strong lead performance and a steady sense of humor.

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50

San Francisco Chronicle Amy Biancolli

The sum is a comedy that starts out slow and talky, picks up speed - and sexiness, and hysterics - somewhere in the middle, then drags to a stop when everyone starts confessing their feeeelings.

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50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

This is wish-fulfilment fantasy, where the laughs lie in sorting out an embarrassment of riches.

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50

Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey

The problem with It's Complicated, a romantic comedy about the menopausal crowd starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, is that it's not nearly complicated enough.

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50

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Baldwin and Streep do make the most of the situation, and their sparky chemistry provides the only real draw.

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50

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Meyers has a good feel for contemporary comedy; it’s reality, however, that slips through her grasp.

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50

USA Today Claudia Puig

It's Complicated is vacuous overall, although attractively packaged.

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50

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

After listening to Jane and Jake talk it out in the interminable process of working it out—they explore their relationship as exhaustively, and exhaustingly, as any kids on Facebook—I found myself wishing for more shallows and fewer depths.

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40

Empire Helen O'Hara

Like all Meyers’ films, it’s more about interior design porn than real human emotions and drags on for far too long. Still, Streep, Krasinski and Baldwin are so good, they almost make it work. Almost.

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40

Time Out New York Nick Schager

It’s bad enough that Nancy Meyer’s latest conventional romcom is blessed with a title so bluntly unimaginative as to seem facetious; the rub is that it’s not even a truthful assessment.

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40

Variety Todd McCarthy

Cute and clever though the plot may be, everything is played out in the broadest possible terms without an iota of nuance or subtlety.

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20

Village Voice Scott Foundas

Watching this garish fiasco, I found it mildly depressing to see Streep hurdling through this gauntlet of strained whimsy, her every toothy smile and throaty chortle more affected than Sophie Zawistowski's Polish accent.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 49 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Gloria gave it a0:
I hate Nancy Meyers. And I'm a Woman! She's simply not talented!

Howard W. gave it a1:
An insipid story with sappy dialogue delivered by predictable, one-dimensional characters. About as complex as a high school pajama party.

Mark J gave it an8:
Okay. Not everyone lives in Malibu and owns a French bakery catering to movie stars. Not everyone is a partner in an architectural firm specializing in million-dollar home improvements. Maybe Meryl Streep smiles and giggles a bit too much. But the comedy is, at least, inspired by some believable reality. Alec Baldwin is dead-on hilarious, Steve Martin is a charming leading man and Meryl Streep is light and lovable. Mark J.

John G. gave it an8:
John Krasinski almost steals the show as the son-in-law, but Streep is tremendous and the whole thing shows how life and love together can be, complicated by others.

Larry gave it an8:
I really don't get the negativity about this movie. Sure, it's not deep or outrageous or wonderfully novel and clever. And, it is a bit long. Nevertheless, it has a solid storyline and most of the characters are solid. Most important, however, is that the film is actually funny. Some of the gags have been around a long time, but most are fresh, adult and fun. I saw it with an audience of people mostly over 50. The women, in particular, were cackling and guffawing loudly and frequently. I think someone must be at least a worldly and married 25 yrs or older to have a reasonable appreciation of this film.

Ron P. gave it a7:
Overall the movie was very good the acting was great the only real problem was the film it self. The last half of the movie showed mic booms and mic's hanging over the actors heads and prop guys hiding or trying to. There was just as many laughs and wonderments at that as in the movie. The film makers get an F, very unprofessional.

bob w gave it a5:
Put off by recurrent Hollywood practice of placing story in megamansion/estate. This is where film makers live, perhaps, but not where people live, and it gets tiresome to watch - especially when a central theme is the planning of a major edition to what already is a White House sized home (including a kitchen redo of what is already a commercial scale kitchen). There is also a "garden" which looks like a small farm at Versailles, ready for photographing for a coffee table book. In other words, the characters and settings were ridiculous.

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