Two films over the course of the weekend which couldn't have been less like each other.

It's Complicated. (Yes, yes, I know but I turned up speculatively and thought I'd have a greater choice than I did...)

And The Road.

The Road is relentlessly bleak. It features the wild-haired one, Viggo Mortensen, after all: what would you expect? It's mostly grey (and a kind of sludgy brown) with occasional flashes of colour to remind you of the wondrous life now lost. Superb performance from the boy. And I suppose from Viggo but I found the story (lack of it?) so unbearable that I couldn't quite take the grown man seriously. And I suppose a grudging respect for the cinematographer as it was all so relentlessly lightless and bleak. A reviewer in Tatler (I know, I know, but I was in the hairdressers having my fringe sheared) said the only good thing about the film was that she never had to see it again. Whilst I can see the artistic merit in the endeavour, I'm inclined to agree.

It's Complicated on the other hand, I expected to be dreadful. I sloped shamefacedly, lately, into the cinema, solo popcorn in hand as crowds of teenagers lounged about most of the seats, guzzling and gorging their way through over-priced under-nutritious cinema food. It's a laboured script that seemed to end twice over but reared its dying head for another couple of lolloping twists. Alec Baldwin is inoffensively charming in a fat sort of way. Steve Martin is indeed, as one reviewer suggested, hopelessly miscast. I couldn't quite tell you why but see it and you'll agree. But Meryl Streep is just adorable. Looking incroyable as ever. Putting such heart and sincerity into this trite little part that you couldn't help but want it all to turn out for her.

Don't go and see it if you have no patience for silly saccharine but it's a nice bit of a sunny froth if you're after chick-flicky nonsense.