It's Complicated
Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 25, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
The romantic comedy about a divorced couple having an affair manages to be both light on its feet and heavy enough to deliver something of a message. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
It's Complicated isn’t: It’s pretty simple. It’s simply a good time. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Ends up being one of the end-year's best sources of pure entertainment. And for those who believe laughter is the best medicine, there's more than a bellyful or two to be found here. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Streep is in movie star mode, and she’s irresistible. But Baldwin achieves something not many men have been able to with Streep: You notice him. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Funny even when it relies heavily on age-old, old-age gags. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
I enjoyed the spectacle of middle-aged people making spectacles of themselves. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Both actors are a lot better than this material requires – or deserves. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
The result: a fun and sweet romantic comedy that lands comfortably on the smart side of vacant, along the way offering a pleasant and satisfying holiday diversion for the grown-ups in the room. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
What Meyers doesn't do is take chances. She sticks to formula and predictability. In "Complicated," this is as much a matter of casting as writing. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The comedy approaches true hilarity only when Meyers resorts to the surefire gimmick of having the oldsters get massively stoned at a party, though Streep's dilemma is handled well enough for the movie to accumulate some gravitas as it nears the two-hour mark. Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
Just beneath this movie's gleaming high-end surfaces beats the heart of a classic screwball comedy. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
It's Complicated is middle-aged porn, the specialty of Meyers, who also set ladies and interior decorators drooling over homes and gardens in 2006's “The Holiday.” Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
It’s Complicated is the sort of “mature” character piece the French do regularly and better (and without the need for quotation marks around “mature”), but the cast at least helps relieve some of the tidiness that belies the title. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
You don't have to feel guilty for lapping up this froth. Just don't expect nourishment. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There's funny stuff here. We like everybody. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
It's Complicated is basically "Avatar" for women of a certain age, with blond highlights replacing blue skin. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
It's funny but (sorry, ladies) unrealistic that Jake continuously sneaks away from his young wife to canoodle with Jane. Baldwin is a blast, but the role requires him to indulge in indignities such as a naked webcam conversation. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Pleasurable, daffy if at times daft. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
The movie's anchored by a strong lead performance and a steady sense of humor. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
The problem with It's Complicated, a romantic comedy about the menopausal crowd starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, is that it's not nearly complicated enough. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
The sum is a comedy that starts out slow and talky, picks up speed - and sexiness, and hysterics - somewhere in the middle, then drags to a stop when everyone starts confessing their feeeelings. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
This is wish-fulfilment fantasy, where the laughs lie in sorting out an embarrassment of riches. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
It's Complicated is vacuous overall, although attractively packaged. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
After listening to Jane and Jake talk it out in the interminable process of working it out—they explore their relationship as exhaustively, and exhaustingly, as any kids on Facebook—I found myself wishing for more shallows and fewer depths. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Baldwin and Streep do make the most of the situation, and their sparky chemistry provides the only real draw. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Meyers has a good feel for contemporary comedy; it’s reality, however, that slips through her grasp. Read full review
40
Time OutNick Schager
It’s bad enough that Nancy Meyer’s latest conventional romcom is blessed with a title so bluntly unimaginative as to seem facetious; the rub is that it’s not even a truthful assessment. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Cute and clever though the plot may be, everything is played out in the broadest possible terms without an iota of nuance or subtlety. Read full review
40
EmpireHelen O'Hara
Like all Meyers’ films, it’s more about interior design porn than real human emotions and drags on for far too long. Still, Streep, Krasinski and Baldwin are so good, they almost make it work. Almost. Read full review
20
Village VoiceScott Foundas
Watching this garish fiasco, I found it mildly depressing to see Streep hurdling through this gauntlet of strained whimsy, her every toothy smile and throaty chortle more affected than Sophie Zawistowski's Polish accent. Read full review
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