Checked out Book Club, the four-in-one romantic comedy for people without time for those lazy single-romance romantic comedies. In this one, we get four generic-but-sometimes-funny stories starring elder stateswomen of Hollywood in a film and it’s either really cool for them to be, or really sad because maybe this is all they can book in Hollywood.
The film stars Jane Fonda, Candice Bergan, Diane Keaton, and Mary Steenburgen as life-long friends, women of a certain age, who get together for a book club. The new book on the docket: Fifty Shades of Grey… a book which the movie has the good grace and honesty to acknowledge is not very good, a little silly, and maybe (I guess) a little sexy. It certain revs them up as four successful women, one married, all of whom are looking to revamp their romantic lives.
The men in the movie are also welcome: Don Johnson, Craig T. Nelson, Richard Dreyfuss, Wallace Shawn, and Ed Beagley Jr. Of them, Nelson and Johnson have the deepest parts… and it’s particularly amusing that Don Johnson is in a movie that includes 50 Shades of Grey because his real-life daughter – Dakota Johnson – starred in the film adaptations. If only they had the cheek to make a joke about that… but, alas, no.
Because this movie really doesn’t have a lot of cleverness to it. It’s not a bad film and it does have some decent (and sometimes very racy) laughs, but it’s not a smart, insightful, or inventive script. The actors all bring their best game though and they save it from mediocrity just by being good at their day jobs. And, to be fair, I found it mildly amusing and sometimes cute and fun.
I do wish it had been shorter… they are telling four independent romantic comedy stories and you know how they are going to end. I wound up just watching the clock for them to cycle through each of their end stories, knowing how it was going to play out. One time around in a romantic comedy is enough, thank you.
So, yeah, you probably already know if this is the kind of movie for you. If you like romantic comedies or these actresses in particular, you probably will like the movie enough to see it and laugh. You might laugh a LOT if it strikes your funny bone. I think it’s alright. Nothing amazing but the cast – the ladies and the men – were all fun to see together.
Score: 78