Things are 'Complicated,' but fun, thanks to Streep

Get ready for Meryl Streep, a sexpot at 60.

In writer-director Nancy Meyers' extramarital comedy "It's Complicated," the divine Miss Streep is sweet, smart and sexy -- in a performance that generates more laughs and takes more risks than her Julia Child impersonation this summer.

Streep plays Jane Adler, a prosperous southern California bakery-shop owner who has been 10 years divorced from Jake (Alec Baldwin). His midlife crisis came in the form of a hot young wife, Agnes (Lake Bell), and her overstimulated five-year-old son. With the last of the divorced couple's three kids, Gabby (Zoe Kazan), leaving for college, Jane's feeling a tad lonely -- which is when she meets a gentlemanly architect, Adam (Steve Martin), who

designs an extension for her house.

But before anything can begin between Jane and Adam, something unexpected happens. On a trip to New York for the graduation of middle child Luke (Hunter Parrish), Jane and Jake end up together in the hotel bar -- and, after many drinks, in bed.

Back in California, though, Jake wants to keep seeing Jane -- a situation that's at first pleasant but ultimately confusing. Does she want to start up again with a man who left her? Is she doing it for revenge on Agnes? And what about her kids, who have had to adjust to their parents apart? And what about Adam, who seems like the right guy at the wrong time?

Sure, this is middle-aged feminine wish-fulfilment fantasy -- a robust sex life

and a house straight out of Architectural Digest . But that's what Meyers does best, as she did with the Diane Keaton/Jack Nicholson/Keanu Reeves love triangle in "Something's Gotta Give." The difference is that Meyers has found an actress who can make the most of it.

Streep is well matched by Baldwin, who takes his trademark barrel-chested bluster to new levels, while Martin is surprisingly at home as the sincere Adam. And John Krasinsky ("The Office") gets to show some up-to-now unknown slapstick chops, playing Jane's future son-in-law, who trips over himself when he becomes the one person who knows about Jane and Jake's affair.

But "It's Complicated" belongs whole-heartedly to Meryl Streep. After a career of tightly controlled performances, from "Sophie's Choice" to "The Devil Wears Prada," Streep finally gets her chance to cut loose -- and her frisky, flirty Jane is a comic revelation.