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It's Complicated poster

It's Complicated

year 2009decade 00sdirector Nancy Meyersgenre Comedygenre Romantic comedy

121 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

It's Complicated | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Amanda Dobbinsguest Mina Kimes
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

The Amanda Dobbins Award for Best Piece of Real Estate

Jane’s house

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:36Read transcript
  • Meyers interiors favor high ceilings, open sight lines, neutral colors, wood, and lived-in knickknacks.
  • Jane’s beautiful kitchen nevertheless lacks storage and space, defending her desire to expand it.
  • Jane’s house is the clear real-estate choice.
  • The children’s bungalow is also admired.
  • The house’s real Thousand Oaks location is surprising.

Picking Nits

Household plausibility; Harley’s secrecy; video chat; body double; croissant preparation

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:27Read transcript
  • The bakery owner’s luxurious Santa Barbara house seems difficult to afford; her divorce from a lawyer and successful bakery offer possible explanations.
  • The unrealistic house is defended as wish fulfillment, comparable to impossible John Wick action.
  • A modern version could make Jane a wealthy bakery mogul with social-media reach and worldwide sales.
  • Open shelving looks good but creates dust, maintenance and storage problems.
  • The large vegetable garden would require frequent workers and protection from wildlife.
  • The original divorce and Jake’s decision to marry Agness seem puzzling given his chemistry with Jane.
  • Agness’s own affair and Pedro not being Jake’s son make audiences less sympathetic to her and less troubled by Jake leaving.
  • Harley would probably tell his fiancée immediately about the hotel encounter; disagreement concerns whether he would relish gossip or disclose it sensitively.
  • Jake ought to notice the open video-chat screen before exposing himself.
  • The hairless body double is visibly inconsistent with Baldwin’s body hair.
  • Chocolate croissants are usually square, unlike the rolled pastries here.
  • Croissant dough normally requires advance preparation rather than immediate late-night baking.
  • Already-prepared dough could explain the short preparation time.
  • The dough seems handled too much, which might toughen it; this is qualified as nonexpert opinion.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Adam’s characterization; the smiling youngest son; Baldwin’s later baggage

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:59Read transcript
  • The adult children are implausibly jobless, available, and eager to climb into bed together.
  • Baldwin’s briefly mentioned presence and Adam’s loser-like characterization; Bill Murray is proposed as Adam, then questioned because Jane might need to care for him.
  • The youngest son’s constant grin seems unnerving rather than natural.

Recasting Couch

Sam Shepard, Tommy Lee Jones or Tom Hanks as Adam; Adam Brody as Harley; early Chris Pratt as a child

Flex pick · Mina Kimes

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:44Read transcript
  • Nicholson or Harrison Ford might make viewers demand a romantic reunion, unlike Baldwin’s charming but unsuitable Jake.
  • Sam Shepard is favored for Adam’s sensitive charisma; Dennis Quaid and Cruise are rejected.
  • Tommy Lee Jones could play a blue-collar contractor; Dustin Hoffman offers a Kramer vs. Kramer callback but is judged too odd and insufficiently competitive romantically.
  • Recasting was the flex already used. — Mina Kimes
  • Michael Douglas is floated as Adam, with concern that his sexual charisma would overpower the role.
  • Hanks is proposed as Adam and encouraged to take supporting romantic-comedy roles again.
  • An early-career, funny Chris Pratt could improve one child role, although adding another NBC sitcom star might overload the cast.
  • Adam Brody replacing Krasinski gains agreement; the earlier, charming Krasinski is nevertheless preferred.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Reported budget and gross; retained accidental kiss; nude double; New York filming

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:41Read transcript
  • A reported $75 million budget returned $219 million .
  • An unplanned kiss during Jane’s phone call caused a line mistake that was retained.
  • Baldwin reportedly used a nude double; much of the movie used New York interiors, with Thousand Oaks and Santa Barbara-area exteriors.

Roger Ebert's review

Rating not yet verified
In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:57Read transcript
  • The score is rendered as “two and F stars,” leaving the numeral unresolved in this transcript. The quoted review criticizes stale reuse of familiar romantic material.

Most Rewatchable Scene

First hotel bar and bedroom; second hotel encounter

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:58Read transcript
  • The opening anniversary party efficiently introduces the cast and Jane’s reaction to Agnes.
  • The first friends’ dinner is admired for convivial chemistry; Wilson and Greer prompt a discussion of great rom-com friends.
  • The hotel bar through “Home sweet home” showcases chemistry and comic deliveries.
  • The graduation dinner and confession to friends are highlighted, including the Agnes Adler line and reaction shots.
  • Other candidates include the stalked dinner date, bathtub, heart attack, getting stoned, croissants, laptop nudity and final separation.
  • One preference changes from croissants to the hotel bar and finally the second hotel encounter with the heart attack; it remains a qualified choice.
  • Another choice favors the first hotel bar and bedroom because the performers’ chemistry surpasses the Steve Martin pairing.

What’s Aged the Best?

Jane’s loneliness conveyed visually; Streep’s beauty and performance; relaxed adult women; the second-wife comedy

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:39:00Read transcript
  • Small visual details establish Jane’s loneliness without exposition.
  • Streep’s beauty, flattering lighting and relaxed happy performance; Meyers writes successful, easygoing women rather than rigid rom-com stereotypes.
  • The hostile glamorous second wife and tiger tattoo work comically; FitzGerald is more recognizable after Succession but has little characterization here.
  • Streep still looking great without much apparent surgery is praised; her anti-surgery reputation is explicitly uncertain.

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Adam; the adult children

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:43:37Read transcript
  • The children’s talented performers have little to do.
  • Steve Martin’s Adam is underwritten and cannot compete with Baldwin’s charisma.
  • The adult children appear unrealistically undamaged and too invested in their divorced parents reuniting; a contrary reading that they oppose reunion is argued down.
  • The children’s group-bed scene, excessive graduation celebration, local residence and expensive bungalow are implausible; their oddness is also defended as funny and peripheral to the adult story.

Is There a Better Title for This Movie?

Home Sweet Home; The Other Woman

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:04Read transcript
  • Home Sweet Home gains agreement after rejected baking puns; It’s Complicated is also defended as a Facebook-era relationship-status time capsule.
  • The Other Woman is a late title suggestion; the later film of that name is clarified in a cast discussion.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Overrated roast chicken; more older leads; Santa Barbara’s screen weather; Reeves in Something’s Gotta Give

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:28Read transcript
  • Roast chicken is overrated, especially the ordinary home-cooked version; great restaurant or Ina Garten versions are allowed exceptions.
  • More genres should feature leads over fifty because seasoned actors and lived-in characters are compelling.
  • Santa Barbara’s relentlessly sunny screen image is challenged by coastal fog; others defend its beauty, retirement appeal and surrounding destinations.
  • Keanu Reeves is better in Something’s Gotta Give than The Matrix; the closing discussion again supports funding Meyers while questioning the reported $180 million budget.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Nora Dunn; the anniversary-party husband; the hotel clerk

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:05Read transcript
  • Nora Dunn; the unnamed anniversary-party husband recognized from To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday.
  • The New York hotel clerk, recognized as Ravenhead from Succession, is offered as the stronger answer.

Hottest Job for a Male Love Interest in a Romantic Comedy

Architect

Flex pick · Craig Horlbeck

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:32Read transcript
  • Architect, pediatrician, journalist, chef and a grounded rich heir are attractive romantic-comedy jobs; architecture combines creativity and practicality. — Craig Horlbeck
  • Advertising evokes Don Draper’s womanizing; lawyer, businessman and widowed stay-at-home dad are considered, but unemployment is a barrier.
  • Chef, vet, urban planner and sports doctor are considered; plastic surgeon is too vain. Architect remains favored, with oil billionaire dismissed.
  • Realtor and marine biologist are added; marine research risks romantic unavailability.
  • Female sportswriter examples lead to sideline reporter as the best ESPN rom-com job; Trainwreck’s sports-doctor role enabled comic athlete interactions.

Apex Mountain

Alec Baldwin; this kitchen (disputed)

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:20:07Read transcript
  • Streep is rejected here; her mid-eighties work and Devil Wears Prada through Iron Lady represent possible peaks, with no real career fallow period.
  • Baldwin possibly qualifies alongside 30 Rock and SNL.
  • Steve Martin’s late-seventies success is preferred; his-and-her sinks receive a positive discussion without a firm peak judgment.
  • Meyers’s peak shifts from The Holiday to Something’s Gotta Give based on film quality, nominations and box-office discussion.
  • Divorced-couple romances have earlier screwball peaks, including His Girl Friday and The Philadelphia Story.
  • Krasinski’s A Quiet Place and marriage to Emily Blunt displace this performance as his peak.
  • The Holiday’s British cottage is preferred for Meyers houses; this kitchen receives a best-kitchen vote but Something’s Gotta Give is defended for space, storage and island layout.
  • Lake Bell, Caitlin FitzGerald and Zoe Kazan receive no Apex endorsement.

Cruise or Hanks?

Hanks

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:30:27Read transcript
  • Hanks gains agreement; Cruise is considered disastrous in any role.

Scorsese or Spielberg?

Spielberg; Scorsese

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:30:42Read transcript
  • Spielberg is proposed, followed by a Scorsese dissent for a grittier version.
  • A gritty Scorsese version could substitute cocaine for marijuana and genuinely damaged children.

Is This Movie Better With…?

Tony Romo narrating the laptop scene; Chris Collinsworth at the bakery

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:11Read transcript
  • Tony Romo narrating the laptop scene.
  • Chris Collinsworth ordering at the bakery.

Just One Oscar

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:39:08Read transcript
  • Baldwin for supporting actor; Waltz still deserves the actual win, but Baldwin could replace a weaker nominee.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Jake’s legal work; Streep’s laugh count; noodle ingredients; ex-spouse affairs

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:39:57Read transcript
  • Jake has a law partnership but implausibly plentiful free time; his actual legal practice remains unspecified.
  • Could this set a Streep laugh record? The proposed laugh-per-minute tally is comic speculation.
  • The noodle dish’s contents remain uncertain; a pesto pasta salad is suggested.
  • An affair with an ex is deemed acceptable only when the current spouse was the original affair partner; a blameless later spouse changes the judgment.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

An ex-spouse affair is acceptable when the current spouse was the original affair partner

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:44:20Read transcript
  • An ex-spouse affair is acceptable when the current spouse was the original affair partner.

Best Double Feature

It's Complicated poster
It's Complicated
Poster unavailable
Something’s Gotta Give
Poster unavailable
Kramer vs. Kramer
Poster unavailable
Julie & Julia
Poster unavailable
Irreconcilable Differences
In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:44:35Read transcript
  • Something’s Gotta Give is suggested but argued against after a recent back-to-back viewing; Kramer vs. Kramer offers a contrasting divorce double bill.
  • Julie & Julia pairs same-year Streep, Ephron and Meyers.
  • Irreconcilable Differences is suggested despite being difficult to find.

Producer review

Improves on revisiting; food reveals relationships

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:45:59Read transcript
  • The movie improves on revisiting; few later rom-coms match it, and food-centered interactions communicate the relationships.
  • Jake’s indulgence and entitlement toward Jane’s food contrasts with Adam’s behavior; family leftovers, dinner parties and baking make it a great food movie without food as the plot.

More from the conversation

Nancy Meyers qualifies as an auteur through a recognizable visual style, recurring themes, major actors, commercial success, and influence on home design. It’s Complicated is a personal favorite; Something’s Gotta Give is called her best.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:22Read transcript
Jane feels complex and grows beyond her marriage.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:51Read transcript
The frightening description of brow-lift recovery discourages cosmetic intervention.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:16Read transcript
What Women Want remains charming but ranks lower among Meyers films.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:32Read transcript
Resistance to funding her new film is criticized alongside her repeated box-office success.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:27Read transcript
Streep’s 2006–11 run combines commercial hits, radically different characters, and awards success.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:01Read transcript
Jane’s warmth contrasts with Miranda Priestly’s restraint.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:48Read transcript
The Devil Wears Prada is favored as Streep’s most enduring, rewatchable performance; its announced sequel is welcomed.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:09Read transcript
Streep’s earlier awards run prevents calling the 2000s her unequivocal best; Kramer vs. Kramer is another favorite.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:50Read transcript
Baldwin’s comic reinvention is traced through television and film roles.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:26Read transcript
His long career and electric chemistry with Streep are praised.
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:00Read transcript
The role is speculated to have been written for his specific abilities.
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:39Read transcript
Prior controversy is discussed alongside memories of seeing the movie in theaters and showing it to a divorced father who loved it.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:12Read transcript
Critics are accused of undervaluing the filmmaking craft of Meyers’s romances.
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:23Read transcript
Wesley Morris’s favorable review praises emotional sophistication and Baldwin as a counterweight to Streep.
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:11Read transcript
Personal divorced-parent experiences lead to uncertainty about how often long-divorced couples reconnect; celebrity remarriages are distinguished from secret affairs.
Approx. transcript time · 00:35:44Read transcript
Meyers’s divorce and later friendly road trip with Charles Shyer prompt questions about autobiographical inspiration, without a claim that the plot occurred.
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:30Read transcript
Bell’s role is compared with Amanda Peet’s similar Meyers casting; How to Make It in America is praised as Bell’s best performance.
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:18Read transcript
A discussion of Streep’s children and Jack Quaid argues that acting skills and immersion can run in families.
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:37Read transcript
Older romantic-lead attractiveness: Michael Douglas in The American President, Harrison Ford in Sabrina and Morning Glory, and James Gandolfini in Enough Said.
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:26Read transcript
Meyers reportedly dislikes interiors overshadowing her work; the hosts defend production design as genuine craft and character development.
Approx. transcript time · 01:28:39Read transcript
Food, band-name and university mispronunciation anecdotes offer comic self-deprecation.
Approx. transcript time · 01:29:41Read transcript
A chocolate croissant is judged not worth its extra labor compared with a good chocolate-chip cookie; personal preferences favor the chocolate-rich middle or bottom.
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:38Read transcript
Streaming rom-com quality is criticized, with Set It Up praised and Anyone But You strongly disliked despite its younger audience’s affection.
Approx. transcript time · 01:48:20Read transcript