Directed by: Bill Holderman
Starring: Jane Fonda, /Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Don Johnson, Andy Garcia, Richard Dreyfuss, Wallace Shawn, Alicia Silverstone, Katie Aselton, Ed Begley, Jr.
The score over the opening credits lets us we're in for some light fare with Book Club, a charming romantic comedy about the romantic adventures of four mature women; one single and keeping it that way, one married but with a lackluster sex life, one divorced for many years and still resents her ex, and a widow with two way, way overprotective adult children who treat her like she's incompetent.
Any obstacles in their way will soon be overcome and all will have a happy ending. Book Club isn't in the realism business, nor should it be.
The women are friends since college and once a month meet for a book club in which more wine drinking and gossiping occurs than book discussion. The book selected is Fifty Shades of Grey, and it's probably no wonder they don't have much to say about it in future meetings. Not when each is presented with a romantic dilemma which must be solved by movie's end. For Vivian (Fonda), a rich and never married (make that never actually been in a serious relationship), a former flame (Johnson) stays at her hotel and wants to rekindle the old days. For Diane (Keaton), her husband died last year and feels the pull of her overbearing daughters to move to Arizona to live near them. A complication presents itself in the form of Mitchell (Garcia), a rich pilot. Married Carol (Steenburgen) is mostly happy with her now-retired husband Bruce (Nelson), but he would rather work on his old motorcycle than have sex. Then, there is federal judge Sharon (Bergen), who reluctantly puts herself on the dating scene eighteen years after divorcing her husband.
The pieces are now in place, and if you think there won't be at least one Viagra gag, then you've come to the wrong movie. But, it's fun to see the legendary actresses (three of them Oscar winners) do their stuff, and the couples all have a sweet chemistry. We like these women, all of whom are bright, intelligent, and healthy, and we want them to be happy. For Diane, we want her to tell her kids to go to hell already, which she does a lot later than she should have. Book Club is a movie in which the women chase the men, which is different from the formula of most romantic comedies.
Book Club won't add any more statuettes to the mantles of any of its stars, but it is surely worth a couple of hours of your time.
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