The Emotional See-saw Of Marriage And Divorce.
With this cast, you could be expected to sit back and enjoy the offering. Well, it nearly works, but the director should have cut Streep's giggling down by half, and kept Baldwin clothed at all times, although in one scene his nudity is pretty well necessary.
Jane Adler (Meryl Streep) and Jake (Alec Baldwin) have been divorced for a number of years. He has remarried and Jane is running a successful bakery business but still harbours regrets and puzzlement over what went wrong. Bring in their three children and one fiance, Jake now eyeing Jane with renewed interest, a Greek chorus of females who commiserate and spur Jane on to re-enter the dating game, and you have the bones of the plot. Into this mix comes Adam, an architect (Steve Martin), also divorced, making just the plans Jane wants for her new extension and having romantic thoughts of his own.
There are some funny moments. Harley, played by John Krasinski, is hilarious as the fiance who tries to keep his girl ignorant of the fact that her divorced parents are spending the afternoon in a hotel suite, but there's no pathos - even when Jake doesn't get all he yearns for, it doesn't seem to matter. Steve Martin's deep glances and guiet, hidden romantic leanings can't lift this film to another level. Alec Baldwin has an undeniably fascinating presence on screen, as does Meryl Streep, but together they don't quite meld. But for all that, it's a nice, uncomplicated sort of film (despite the title) of a breezy sortie into marriage and divorce.