Wednesday 10 February 2010

not so complicated

one of the films i've seen recently is "it's complicated", and i loved it. not just because it's genuinely funny in a way that isn't demeaning, but because the characters are so real. there's meryl streep with all her wrinkles & alec baldwin in all his fat hairiness. a decent storyline about people in their 50s (with hot sex lives too), rather than one featuring the young and the physically perfect.

i sat there really enjoying all of this, and hoping this signals a change in hollywood. maybe a broadening of what's being offered to us, and a movement away from the traditional stereotypes of what makes a commercially successful film. we can only hope!

5 comments:

Tess Simpson said...

I did hear-haven't seen the movie-that there were some weird racial issues going on re: the latina second wife and her son.

Julie said...

Have you seen Something's Gotta Give Anjum? I've seen that but not It's Complicated, and wonder how it compares.

stargazer said...

no, haven't seen that, sorry.

and i didn't pick up that the second wife was latina - her race didn't seem to play any part of the story. but yes, the fact that she was portrayed as a nasty controlling bitch wasn't nice.

Boganette said...

I loved Steve Martin in it. The scene where they smoke pot was hilarious.

Lake Bell isn't Latina but I did think the whole "bitchy new wife" thing might have been a bit over-done. But they kind of had to do that to make Streep and Baldwin's cheating "acceptable".

Anonymous said...

Not sure about this - Something's Gotta Give and It's Complicated pit young woman (hot, bitchy, boring, unhealthy) vs. old woman (no-so-hot, lovely, interesting, can cook). Hardly a feminist revolution....