The movie also stars Steve Martin and features an extremely funny John Krasinski. A review of the 2009 movie, with some spoilers
Originally posted in Counter Arts on Medium on August 29, 2026
I love Meryl Streep, and I’m trying to watch as many of her movies as I can find on certain streaming platforms. Recently, I revisited It’s Complicated, a really good down-to-earth comedy written and directed by Nancy Myers (What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give), with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin as Jane and Jake Adler, two divorced spouses with three children in their early twenties, and Steve Martin as architect Adam Shaffer, Jane’s new love interest, who is designing her new kitchen addition.
The movie doesn’t have a lot of twists. It’s just a satisfying story with many humorous elements. Jane and Jake get drunk when they get together for the college graduation of their son Luke (Hunter Parrish), and they fall into bed together and have a great time. From then on, they try to rekindle their spark, and there is a spark there, even though they had been divorced for ten years and Jake is married to someone else (Agness, played by Lake Bell) and trying to have a baby with her.
In fact, as Jake comments, it is precisely because he has a wife — and a stressful situation as she tries to conceive — that he enjoys having a romp with his ex-wife. Jane has become the mistress, the woman on the side, and there is excitement in that as they try to manage their affair without raising their children’s suspicions — or Agness’s.
Meryl Streep was sixty when she acted in this movie, and she plays the part of a now-hopeful, now-racked-with-guilt fifty-something woman to perfection. Jane is a successful baker, has good friends, and now she is getting her groove back as a lover, which feels great because she is also courted by Adam, who senses that she may be involved with her ex-husband but chooses to still pursue her, even though he does say, once they get to spend time together, that he does want her to make up her mind.
But they dance at a party, and they make mouth-watering croissants with chocolate, and Steve Martin as Adam is not only funny but also adorable as a possible partner for Jane. Alec Baldwin as Jake is also greatly endearing and very convincing as the put-upon husband of Agness, who has become very demanding of him in the conceiving-a-baby department and is suddenly not sexy at all. And so Jake comes peeking at the window when Jane is entertaining Adam.
And yes, as Roger Ebert noted, Jane has a sprawling house, and Adam is making extra room for her kitchen, which is a little hard to believe from an owner of a pastry shop, however fancy it may be. But Jane is also the ex-wife of a lawyer and has been raising three children, so she probably got a lot from Jake in the divorce settlement.
But yes, the movie has a Santa Barbara vibe to it. I don’t mind it, though. I love Jane’s sense of style and the way she moves through her life. It suggests a kind of freedom that can be emulated by many fifty-something women, which is, I imagine, one of the points of this movie. Even Jane’s therapist tells her to let loose when it comes to Jake.
These tropes are clichés, but all the main actors, including Emjay Anthony as Agness’s little son Pedro and Jane and Jake’s children Luke, Gabby (Zoe Kazan), and Lauren (Caitlin FitzGerald) are very good, making this a wry yet heartwarming true-to-life dramedy about family dynamics. And I say family dynamics and dramedy because this movie is a little more than just a comedy about an affair. The children come with authentic feelings, and they need to be placated, too, when they suffer. Because they do suffer once they find out their parents, whom they have struggled to relate to as divorced, have now gotten back together.
I won’t go into more detail. There’s plenty in the movie to discover aside from what I’ve shared here.
I’ll just add that John Krasinski as Harley, Lauren’s fiancé, who cottons onto her parents’ shenanigans, is absolutely hilarious. I laughed out loud every time he was acting funny in a scene, because he was that good. I won’t spoil these scenes here. You’ll have to watch the movie.
Enjoy!
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Thank you for reading!
If you liked this piece, here is one other article you may enjoy:
‘Rooster’, a Campus Comedy with Much-Endearing Actors
And here are some of my customizable Zazzle designs for the holiday season:
https://happierhealthier.blog/tag/christmas
To a happier, healthier life,
Mira
