From here on in, I’d like Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin to star in all their movies together.
   Their chemistry in "It’s Complicated" is so teasing and affectionate that they make what would otherwise be a rather mediocre movie into something engaging.
   You know the set-up from the ads: Streep is having an affair with her ex (Baldwin), despite the fact that he’s married to a young trophy wife.
Baldwin can play a lovable lout like no one else. The thing is, he needs a strong, smart female counterpart to keep up with him, which is why he works so well with Tina Fey on "30 Rock" and with Streep here.
   Streep, as Baldwin’s ex-wife, bubbles along on a wave of playfulness. Granted, her character can seem a bit little too dithery, as if writer/director Nancy Meyers still thinks she’s guiding Diane Keaton in "Something’s Gotta Give." But Streep brings a sharp wit to everything she does, and this is no exception.
   Because Meyers’ movies are all about female wish-fulfillment, Streep’s high-end-bakery owner also gets another fabulous suitor, this one in the form of an architect working on her house. He ends up being the weakest part of the triangle, partly because Steve Martin is just too emotionally remote, even for this shy character. I would have cast Jeff Bridges.
   Another thing I’d do: I’d hire Nancy Meyers to decorate my house. In every movie of hers — this, "Something’s Gotta Give," "The Holiday" — the homes are magazine-layout fab. (When Streep’s character complained about her stunning kitchen, I rolled my ears over the fact that she found anything in her house lacking.)
   Watching Meyers’ movies, I always find myself wondering, "Would a real person who does this character’s job really be able to afford a luxurious house like that?" Which is probably not a good thing to be thinking in the middle of a movie.
   How did "It’s Complicated" rate with you?