IT'S COMPLICATED

Written and Directed by Nancy Meyers
Starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin and John Krasinski


Jake: You know what they say, people in nursing homes with plants live longer than people without."

The title says it all. IT’S COMPLICATED, alright. The sad part is it isn’t nearly as complicated as these folks make it out to be. I concede that starting an affair with your ex-husband after he is remarried to the younger woman that broke up your own marriage would definitely qualify as complicated. I also agree that hiding that affair from your kids and the guy you just started dating makes it even worse. Just don’t ask me to feel bad for you though because it is only as complicated as you allow it to be.

Writer/Director Nancy Meyers knows what movie audiences want around the holidays. Her previous works (WHAT WOMEN WANT and SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE, to name a couple) have been big holiday hits and IT’S COMPLICATED will be no different. Albeit sometimes forced, it is actually quite funny at times. Meryl Streep plays Jane, a 50-something single woman whose kids have all left her very costly nest and who finds herself alone for the first time in her life. It isn’t long before her neurosis and several bottles of wine find her in bed with her ex (Alec Baldwin). The twosome are such talented actors that going along with all their antics often not only leads to hilarity but also character and insight, a rarity in safe fare like this. And let me just say that Streep should get stoned in all of her movies from now on. That woman is downright silly sometimes.


To get complicated, things need to get dirty first and IT’S COMPLICATED is far too clean to qualify. It’s like Hollywood’s take on the kinds of desperate scenarios indie film characters find themselves in. As they sit amidst all their perfect privilege and wealth though, their woes only come across as whiny. Funny, sure, but self-indulgent too.

AWAY WE GO

Written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph


Burt Farlander: I had a dream about Montreal last week.
Verona De Tessant: Was I topless in it?
Burt Farlander: Yes.

From the moment you see this dilapidated shack of a house, you think how could anyone live here? There is a light on inside so someone must live there. Who could possibly though? It looks as though it could fall in on itself at any moment. And then you see the inside. There is a tool and workstation in the bedroom! What hapless losers call this dump home? Well, that would be Burt Farlander and Verona De Tessant (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) and when you meet them, you realize instantly that they deserve so much better. They’re good people who are trying to find their place who haven’t realized yet that they don’t have to stay in one place to find it. They are also just now, both in their early 30’s, waking up to the reality of their adult life and seeing that they’ve got a lot more work to do than they thought. And so away they go in search of a real home in Sam Mendes’s AWAY WE GO.


It might have been the decrepit yet necessary space heater in the living room or the cardboard box that was doubling as a window in the kitchen but it was a lot more likely that it was Verona’s unexpected pregnancy that tipped the couple off. There comes a point in time in our lives when we can no longer just get by on our youthful charms, when we must take specific action to fashion our lives into something we can grow into security or a legacy. That time is now for Burt and Verona. After Burt’s parents (Catherine O’Hara and Jeff Daniels) inform the twosome that they are moving to Belgium for two years, they realize that there is no reason for them to continue living in Colorado as they were only doing so to be close to his parents. All too often, we resign ourselves to what we know and avoid venturing past our safety zones out of fear of the unknown or because of just plain complacency but Burt and Verona have just realized that there is nothing remotely safe about their particular zone. Worse yet, it isn’t home.


This charming road trip film is winning and touching despite its formulaic trappings. After leaving Colorado, Burt and Verona go to Phoenix, Madison and Miami. They even make their way north of the border to Montreal. At each spot, they visit with friends and family in hopes of feeling a connection that might make them want to move there. The premise is inherently episodic as each of these people they meet with has children already and they each have different approaches to proper parenting. There is always something to learn and Mendes does nothing to mask the transparency of their journey. What he does is allow seasoned character actors like O’Hara and Daniels, or Maggie Gyllenhaal, Alison Janney and Chris Messina to bring sincerity and depth to what would otherwise be hollow shells. And with the unavoidably likable Krasinski and the refreshingly honest Rudolph taking us on this ride, even long lulls on the road pass by like a breeze.


AWAY WE GO is the kind of film that makes me wish I had someone to get out there and look for a home with. Burt and Verona are something of a dying breed today. The love they have for each other is deep but practical and at no point in time does either take for granted that they will make it through to the other side without having to do a little work to get there. They also don’t take it all so seriously so as much as they work, they play just as hard. The way in which they play is what gives AWAY WE GO a warmth that I’ve only known from one place before … home.

LEATHERHEADS

Written by Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly
Directed by George Clooney
Starring George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, John Krasinski and Jonathan Pryce


Reporter: They got a completely different style; how are you going to adjust to that?
Carter Rutherford: Maybe they’ll just adjust to me.

Every seat in the stands is filled. The screams from the crowd almost eclipse the sound of the marching band. It is 1925 and both the country and its interest in college football is thriving. Meanwhile, at a game just a few fields away, a spectator could practically get an entire bench to themselves; a cow on the field goes unnoticed; and the entire thing could be called off because there is no spare football to be found when the game ball goes missing. Given today’s interest in the sport, it seems implausible to say but this second game is actually being played by the professionals. Apparently, back in the 20’s, America encouraged their young men to get on the field and toss the ball around for their amusement but expected them to grow up and be real men once college and the game were done. LEATHERHEADS, George Clooney’s third time behind the lens of a feature film, follows one man’s refusal to play by the rules and his quest to legitimize the boys who would rather play than become productive members of society.


With Randy Newman’s swing jazz score keeping the tone lively and the entire cast generally looking like they’re having a blast, it is a wonder that LEATHERHEADS falls as flat as it does. It’s got the look, the style and the attitude but it lacks the luster and the laughs necessary to transport the audience to a time when comedy meant screwball instead of raunchy. First time feature writers, Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, go back over 80 years to tell their story but while recreating the proper language lends to the credibility of the scenario, writing in jokes that are just as old as the story itself does nothing to inspire a single guffaw. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A guy and a gal are having words and the lady says, “I didn’t come here to be insulted.” Without pause, the man retorts, “No, where do you usually go?” You aren’t laughing, are you? I told you to stop me. Still, it may be unfair to lay the blame entirely on Brantley and Reilly as the script itself has a few years on it. Originally written over fifteen years ago, only a few original scenes made it into Clooney’s revised version but with the bare essentials intact, Clooney was not awarded any writing credit for his overhaul.


This particular caper finds Clooney as Dodge Connolly, a forty-five year old professional football player that has no other skills other than playing it rough on the field. When his team seems to be headed for extinction due to lack of interest and therefore funds, he must make the country take notice of professional football or find a real job. To do this, he enlists Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford (Krasinski) out of college ball and turns him pro. This puts the crowds in the seats instantly and draws the attention of the media to a franchise they thought to be fumbling. One journalist in particular, Lexie Littleton (Zellweger), is sent in from Chicago to debunk the star player and soon enough, both Dodge and The Bullet are vying for her attentions. Clooney’s got his Cary Grant face on, Zellweger’s back in her Roxie Hart mode and Krasinski’s just got a face that beams with earnestness that you can’t help but love the guy. All around, the film is perfectly cast but everyone plays their part by the book. Funny how a film that makes such a strong statement about how rules ruined the game of football is so afraid of breaking any.


Clooney is a formidable director. His last effort, GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK, earned him well-warranted accolades and he proves once again with LEATHERHEADS that he is capable of assembling all the proper elements necessary to design a particular tenor. His issue here is that there are perhaps too many factors to consider and he loses sight of the whole and how that final product will come across to the audience. Unlike the players on the field, Clooney seems afraid to dive into the mud and get his film a little dirty. Every aspect is so polished but the game just isn’t as exciting if nobody gets their uniform dirty. And just because a play works on paper, doesn’t mean it will score your team a touchdown.