Review of It's Complicated"

Things aren't really all that complicated in "It's Complicated."

Everyone's white.

Everyone's fabulously wealthy.

The kids are perfect.

Every meal is a feast.

And dessert is lavender-honey ice cream.

Give me a break.

In "It's Complicated," writer-director Nancy Meyers ("Something's Gotta Give") spins a fantasy that makes "The Lord of the Rings" look like a documentary.

The fantasy is obviously aimed at baby boomer females, and while there's nothing wrong with targeting that audience, this film has the feel of the California wealthy tossing crumbs of hope to the teeming masses, who can only wish they had the life up on screen.

The life up on screen belongs to Jane (Meryl Streep), mother to three grown children with straight teeth and no apparent means of livelihood. Maybe someone pays them to sparkle.

Jane owns an incredibly successful bakery, her home is more an estate than a house, and she gets together every week for wine with her three bestest friends, where they gab and move the plot along.

The only thing Jane doesn't have is a husband; her ex, Jake (Alec Baldwin), left 10 years back. He's now married to a beautiful younger woman (Lake Bell), cue the boos and hisses.

But while attending the graduation of their youngest sparkling offspring, Jake and Jane find themselves having fun. And then they find themselves in bed. Suddenly, Jane is her ex-husband's mistress.

And wouldn't you know it, along comes another fabulously wealthy guy, Adam (Steve Martin), with eyes for Jane.

By the way, Adam is an architect who is designing the kitchen of Jane's dreams. Never mind that the kitchen she already has is just a bit smaller than a gymnasium.

So, to recap, ladies: You can be an awesome cook; your kids can be perfect; you're sexier than that younger woman; you can run your own business; fabulously wealthy and attractive men will vie for your attention; and you can get a kitchen the size of the Taj Mahal. In other words, you can have it all, even at this late date.

Doesn't that seem just a bit desperate?

The truth is, Meyers knows how to write good comic scenes, and there are plenty of them in this film. And it's freaking Streep, Baldwin and Martin -- so, of course, they're wonderful and funny.

But all this grand talent goes to waste in what is essentially a morally repugnant work.

Why did all these people have to be so rich, especially considering the harsh economic realities of today?

Wouldn't Jane's moral dilemmas have played out just as well if she was a struggling single mom popping dinners into the microwave?

Do all the children have to glow so irritatingly -- couldn't at least one of them have a minor problem, or at least a personality?

And couldn't even one meal look less like it took Martha Stewart two weeks to prepare?

The massive unreality of "It's Complicated" keeps it from ever connecting on anything but a broad comic level. By drenching the film in what can only be called wealth porn, Meyers assures its ultimate superficiality.

But then maybe that's the idea. Toss the peasants some crumbs while charging 10 bucks a ticket. In the end, Nancy Meyers will most likely get what she wants -- an even bigger kitchen.