It's Complicated Film Analysis

It’s Complicated” stars Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin as an upper-middle class divorced couple in their fifties. Jane (Streep) is single and owns a successful bakery. Jake (Baldwin) is married to much younger woman, Agness, and is an attorney. However, Jane and Jake have three grown children together. While in New York for their son’s college graduation Jane and Jake begin having an affair. None of their children know that this is going on and the affair continues when they are back home from New York. Things get complicated when Jane starts getting involved with Adam (Steve Martin), her architect who is designing an addition to her house. This makes Jake extremely jealous and even though Jane tells him that it’s over, he still pursues her.

Throughout the movie the viewer learns more and more about Jake and Jane’s marriage and the reason for their divorce. Jake explains while talking to Jane, “You’re so much more together. You’re not exhausted all the time. You’re not catering every weekend or busy all day with the kids. And I’m calmer, not as obsessed with work. I’m a partner. I’m there” (Meyers 34:47-36:14). This demonstrates typical views of femininity and masculinity, with the mom staying home with the kids and a somewhat absentee father who works all the time. This is a perfect example of Kimmel’s ‘marketplace man’ who, “was an absentee landlord at home and an absent father with his children, devoting himself to his work in an increasingly homosocial environment—a male-only world in which he pits himself against other men” (Kimmel 2003:60). This male competitiveness is shown in the movie between Jake and Adam with Jake making snide remakes about Adam, “invoking homophobia to describe the ways in which boys aggressively tease each other overlooks the powerful relationship between masculinity and this sort of insult. Instead it seems incidental in this conventional line of argument that girls do not harass each other and are not harassed in the same manner” (Pascoe 2005:330). There’s a part of the movie when all of Jane’s friends are making fun of Agness. Not only does Jane not insult her, but she goes so far as to even defend her (Meyers 13:43). There is one scene in particular that illustrates the gender issues in this movie. Jane had been having dinner with Adam when Jake comes over and begins to spy on them. When Adam leaves, Jake comes in the house. This is the first scene when Jane says no to sex and Jake actually listens. Jake still stays over to hang out though and after a while he begins to insult Adam, calling him ‘nerdy.’ He is obviously jealous and displays this through