Step 1: Keep it simple. It’s Complicated thankfully isn’t – as a romantic comedy, that is. It’s pretty straight forward, funny stuff, bolstered by terrific performances and a script that zings.
Step 2: Realize, of course, it’s life that can be complicated – at least for Jane (Meryl Streep). Divorced for 10 years, she has built a nice life for herself and their three kids, running her own business. She has even finally gotten to a place where she can redo her house they way she wants it. Yet, she unexpectedly finds herself having an affair with her now-remarried-to-a-younger-woman ex, Jake (Alec Baldwin), which begins after a drunken night they spend together at their son’s college graduation and continues when they get back home. While Jake feels great about it, finally realizing how much he needs her back in his life, Jane has knots in her stomach. Yes, she’s flattered. Yes, there’s some payback involved. But this isn’t what she really wants in her life now, especially after all they’ve been through. And to complicate things further, Jane is also being wooed by the architect (Steve Martin) designing her house add-ons. She definitely needs to resolve this one way or another before her kids find out.
Step 3: Meryl as … Meryl. This may be the first time in a LONG time Meryl Streep basically plays herself. No accents, no wigs, no singing and dancing – just Meryl as an attractive, smart, slightly befuddled 60-ish mom, who loves her kids, bakes a mean chocolate croissant – and can charm the pants off the men in her life. Thing is, we all know she can do it without the props, so it’s just nice to see her do it au natural once in awhile. She finds a nice balance with Alec Baldwin, who gives us another cad of sorts. You can understand why Jane does what she does, but you’re glad with her final decision. I’m not sure if Baldwin was the best choice to play the part; he just doesn’t quite hit it for me, especially as a divorced dad of three kids. So then I tried thinking about who would have been better and came up with Kevin Kline. Wouldn’t a Sophie’s 
Choice reunion have been cool? Ah, well. And I do like it when Steve Martin plays it straight and sweet, as he does here. He really is a pretty good actor, so I scratch my head at some of his choices sometimes (hint: don’t do anymore Pink Panthers, please). As for the other supporting cast, The Office‘s John Krasinski stands out as the soon-to-be son-in-law, whose finds out about Jake and Jane in a most hilarious way.
Step 4: Write what you know. Gotta hand it to her – writer/director Nancy Meyers has a knack for this older generational, romantic comedy stuff. And boy, she likes to empower her women characters. With her other films, such as Something’s Gotta Give, Meyers has a very funny and poignant perspective on love over 50, and with It’s Complicated, she also delves into the long-term after-effects of divorce. How Jane has coped but has come out of it more successful than Jake and how Jane fostered a very close knit bond with her now grown up kids (played by Zoe Kazan, Caitlin Fitzgerald and Hunter Parish), who you can also see had to rely on each other when times got tough. Sure, there’s a bit of a sugar coating over it all, but the film still deals with it honestly.
Level of difficulty in watching It’s Complicated: Easy peasey – and lots of fun.
