Book Club (12A) ★★
THIS star-studded – but lacklustre summer rom-com brings together not one but four legendary Hollywood leading ladies for a wine-fuelled literary natter and, stimulated by one of the world’s most successful book series, life lessons about rediscovering desires in your 60s and beyond.
Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen are the foursome leading a plot that, whether intentional or not, feels like a thinly-veiled advertisement for EL James’ Fifty Shades of Grey series. It’s the contrived hook that drags us into a story about a group of women reassessing their love lives, getting frank with their partners, reliving decades-old passions or moving on via online dating from marriages that ended long ago.
Keaton plays namesake Diane, a recently widowed mother of two whose grown-up daughters (Alicia Silverstone and Katie Aselton) treat her like a doddering relic always on the verge of breaking a hip. Fonda is feisty hotel owner Vivian, who has spent decades playing the field and avoiding commitment.
Bergen is Sharon, a federal judge still holding on to her marriage to Tom (Ed Begley Jr) that ended almost two decades ago.
Steenburgen is Carol, fed up with her lack of love life with long-time and absent-minded husband Bruce (Craig T Nelsen).
“I am not gonna let us become those people who stop living before they stop living,” says Fonda as she thrusts the book series upon her unsuspecting friends who are horrified then inspired by the contents of the book, if not to emulate it but certainly to change things for themselves.
This brings new men into their lives, including Andy Garcia’s twinkly-eyed pilot Mitchell and Don Johnson’s suave old flame Arthur, with the film then following their respective will-they-won’t-they romances down pedestrian roads.
Seeing these four veterans of Hollywood having a laugh together has a certain charm to it and it is admirable to see a film that focuses on older actresses in an upbeat and positive way – they certainly appear to have had a whale of a time filming it.
Unfortunately, the script, co-written by the film’s director Bill Holderman alongside Erin Simms, doesn’t match up to the ladies’ talents. It’s just not funny or punchy enough, and too sanitised to really go for the jugular that the set-up up lays bare. It’s overly reliant on predictable plot turns set in implausibly glamorous locations and set to the weak tune of low-rate sitcom-esque gags lobbed into the air by one of the group before being smashed down by another across the room – the whole thing practically invites tired canned laughter.
It generally gives off a whiff of condescension towards a target audience not often served by Hollywood anymore, slathering the proceedings with shameless cheesiness that renders things cloying rather than charming.
There is a worthwhile message at the film’s heart – that you’re never too old for passion to be brought into your life – and there’s something to be said for a rom-com that puts the spotlight on someone other than the young.
However, it provides the bare minimum for a particular demographic in the hope they will lap it up because nothing much else is really available.
Everyone involved deserves something with a bit more oomph.
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