Nancy Meyers writes and directs comedies about people over forty, an audience the industry spent decades ignoring, and did it profitably enough that the films became a recognised category. Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday and It’s Complicated all centre women who have already built a life.
The production design is famous to the point of parody, all cream kitchens and open shelving, and it is doing work: the houses establish that these characters have succeeded, so the story can be about what success failed to provide.
She co-wrote Private Benjamin and Father of the Bride before directing, and remains one of very few women to have consistently opened studio comedies.
