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IT'S COMPLICATEDMovie Reviews
Romantic comedy about a fiftysomething couple, divorced for 10 years because he took up with a younger woman, who suddenly rekindle their passions and launch into an illicit affair. Cast:Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, Lake Bell, John KrasinskiDirector:Nancy MeyersRelease Date:December 25, 2009DVD Release:April 27, 2010From:UniversalRating:RLength:2 hr 0 min
It's Complicated played to good not great reviews. • Moira Macdonald wrote in the Seattle Times, "...pretty much what to expect from a Nancy Meyers movie, where every interior is breathtaking and every character is well-meaning, if confused." • And Thelma Adams wrote in the Us Weekly, "Nothing too complicated here." More Reviews Below...
Joey Bartolomeo, People: VERY GOOD(cg) "...smart... Streep, as likable as ever, has met her comic match in Baldwin, who is at his charming, hilarious and nearly-nude (you've been warned) best."(See all of Joey Bartolomeo's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 110 words, 12/31/09
Mary Pols, Time: MODERATE "...a which-guy-will-she-choose story, and thanks to Jake's clear-cut case of permanent jerkitis, there's not a lot of dramatic tension to feed that plot line."(See all of Mary Pols's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 784 words, 12/25/09
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: GOOD(cg) "...middle-aged femme porn... Meyers, who wrote this original screenplay, throws in a few cheap up yours, Hollywood wives zingers, just for fun."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 651 words, 12/11/09
Thelma Adams, Us Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...funny but flabby comedy... while Streep is good as always, she's simply playing it for laughs. Nothing too complicated here."(See all of Thelma Adams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 184 words, 12/24/09
Claudia Puig, USA Today: MODERATE(cg) "...most of the movie is predictable.... Escapism has its place at the movies, but something this slick is like a lavishly wrapped but empty Christmas present."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 407 words, 12/24/09
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (13 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD "Ms. Meyers's vision can be maddeningly narrow... [but] Ms. Streep, mugging wildly if winningly, takes this character and makes you love her, just as Mr. Baldwin does..."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,293 words, 12/25/09
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: MODERATE(cg) "It was a great idea for Meyers to make a movie about midlife love. But why dumb things down to a level that would insult the average teen?"(See all of Elizabeth Weitzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 344 words, 12/25/09
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...while it can be funny when a respectable lady gets stoned on pot, it's difficult for even Streep to make it funny for 10 minutes."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 741 words, 12/24/09
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: FAIR "Meryl is Meryl -- so adept that she floats through the film even in the spots where everything goes flat around her. But even she struggles with the clichés..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,127 words, 12/25/09
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Streep and Baldwin seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves... whether they're mugging, slamming doors or yelling at each other."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 524 words, 12/24/09
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...simply a good time, a relatively adult and easygoing conveyance for three ace performers of a certain age, working through a few comic machinations..."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 497 words, 12/25/09
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "...a woman already empowered to the nth degree struggles comically to reach the nirvana of n + 1... the laughs lie in sorting out an embarrassment of riches."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 764 words, 12/25/09
Scott Foundas, Village Voice/LA Weekly: POOR "...a garish fiasco... the characters are drawn in such robust caricature, the screenplay riddled with such reductive assumptions about the battle of the sexes."(See all of Scott Foundas's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 773 words, 12/23/09
Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "Part of the problem is writer/director Nancy Meyers's ('Something's Gotta Give') not very subtle material.... all too breezy and easy."(See all of Susan G. Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 264 words, 12/17/09
KEY CITIES (17 Reviews)
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Some of the best -- and dirtiest -- lines in 'It's Complicated' can't be printed in a family newspaper. Heck, some of the best lines aren't even lines."(See all of Michael O'Sullivan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 589 words, 12/25/09
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...look at that cast: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Doesn't that promise a somewhat larger fraction of laughs?"(See all of Amy Biancolli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 568 words, 12/25/09
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...likable enough, and the sight of 50-somethings behaving badly is a welcome tonic for an industry that operates on the assumption that grownups don't exist."(See all of Chris Vognar's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 542 words, 12/25/09
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The movie isn't terrible, but it's certainly not great.... it's as soulless as the bland-but-extravagant world the characters live in..."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 468 words, 12/25/09
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD(cg) "Meyers knows what women want: the chastened playboy. And boy, oh, playboy, Baldwin is as riotous as Mel Gibson and Jack Nicholson were in her previous hits."(See all of Carrie Rickey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 573 words, 12/25/09
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: MODERATE(cg) "If you want to take your mother to a nice movie this weekend, this is probably the one she will like best. Unfortunately, there's not an honest minute in it."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 539 words, 12/25/09
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...pretty much what to expect from a Nancy Meyers movie, where every interior is breathtaking and every character is well-meaning, if confused."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 459 words, 12/25/09
Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: VERY GOOD(cg) "...offers some good laughs, especially when 'The Office's' John Krasinski, as Jane's son-in-law-to-be, stumbles upon the affair."(See all of Clint O'Connor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 460 words, 12/25/09
Mike Russell, Portland Oregonian: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...another glossy rom-com about a woman dithering in an unhealthy relationship while another, better, meeker suitor waits in the wings."(See all of Mike Russell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 259 words, 12/25/09
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "To be a postmenopausal mother with actual choices, Streep seems as shocked and giddy as her golden-years girlfriends..."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 325 words, 12/25/09
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: GOOD(cg) "Meyers has A-list actors reciting her grade-C screenplay that doesn't skip a stale joke about the situation, or a quip that isn't tinged with Harlequin paperback regret."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 551 words, 12/24/09
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The empowerment message is obvious, the strain of trying to be 'hip' and edgy in the script shows. But Meyers sets the table for funny people to deliver laughs."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 474 words, 12/25/09
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD(cg) "...undeniably aimed at a female audience, so call it a chick flick if you must. But how can you argue with a film that allows you to have such a good time?"(See all of Connie Ogle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 468 words, 12/25/09
Robert W. Butler, Sacramento Bee: MODERATE(cg) "...a romantic comedy not about shiny young things but about 50-somethings.... But something at the heart of Meyers' screenplay struck me as forced and phony..."(See all of Robert W. Butler's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 428 words, 12/25/09
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a riotous and tender comedy about a middle-aged woman who has an affair with her ex-husband 10 years after they've divorced.... it's a hoot."(See all of Lisa Kennedy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 552 words, 12/25/09
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (5 Reviews)
Scott Foundas, Village Voice/LA Weekly: POOR "...a garish fiasco... the characters are drawn in such robust caricature, the screenplay riddled with such reductive assumptions about the battle of the sexes."(See all of Scott Foundas's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 773 words, 12/23/09
Mike Miliard, Boston Phoenix: MODERATE(cg) "...fetishizes interior design and home furnishings... But a substantive plot larded with more laughs would have made my thoughts much less conflicted."(See all of Mike Miliard's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 156 words, 12/24/09
Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "Part of the problem is writer/director Nancy Meyers's ('Something's Gotta Give') not very subtle material.... all too breezy and easy."(See all of Susan G. Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 264 words, 12/17/09
HIGHBROW PRESS (3 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD "Ms. Meyers's vision can be maddeningly narrow... [but] Ms. Streep, mugging wildly if winningly, takes this character and makes you love her, just as Mr. Baldwin does..."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,293 words, 12/25/09
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...even though Ms. Streep looks radiantly lovely at the age she is, she makes her character's vulnerability both funny and touching..."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 393 words, 12/24/09
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: FAIR "Meryl is Meryl -- so adept that she floats through the film even in the spots where everything goes flat around her. But even she struggles with the clichés..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,127 words, 12/25/09
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Todd McCarthy, Daily Variety: FAIR "...a cloying, self-satisfied, occasionally funny farce... everything is played out in the broadest possible terms without an iota of nuance or subtlety."(See all of Todd McCarthy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 930 words, 12/11/09
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: MODERATE "...a middle-aged sex comedy but with more rom-com urges than farcical ones.... What director Nancy Meyers doesn't do is take chances. She sticks to formula..."(See all of Kirk Honeycutt's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 742 words, 12/11/09
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: FAIR "Meryl is Meryl -- so adept that she floats through the film even in the spots where everything goes flat around her. But even she struggles with the clichés..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,127 words, 12/25/09
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD "Ms. Meyers's vision can be maddeningly narrow... [but] Ms. Streep, mugging wildly if winningly, takes this character and makes you love her, just as Mr. Baldwin does..."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,293 words, 12/25/09
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...even though Ms. Streep looks radiantly lovely at the age she is, she makes her character's vulnerability both funny and touching..."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 393 words, 12/24/09
16.6 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
It's Complicated's reviews are separated by an average 16.6 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
It's Complicated (42 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:It's Complicated's reviews cover 82.1% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 22,250 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 530 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 2.3 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
It's Complicated's reviews on average broke 2.3 hours before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is It's Complicated's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
It's Complicated (42 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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