Review of Book Club (2018) by Blake K — 20 May 2018

"Book Club" (PG-13, 1:44) is a comedy directed by Bill Holderman, in his directorial debut (after producing a couple documentaries and a few Robert Redford films). Holderman co-wrote the movie with actress Erin Simms, here writing her first produced feature-length screenplay. This film stars four women who are legends in their own time, with 6 Emmys, 12 Golden Globes & 4 Oscars between them.

The titular book club is made up of four very different life-long friends: Vivian (Jane Fonda), an oversexed hotel owner; Diane (Diane Keaton), an insecure widow; Sharon (Candice Bergen), an uptight judge and Carol (Mary Steenburgen), the only member of the group who is currently married - to Bruce (Craig T. Nelson), the love of her life. The women get together once a month to discuss their lives and the book that one of them chose for the group to read that month. When it's Vivian's turn, she hands out E.L. James' "Fifty Shades of Grey", which meets with varying levels of resistance from the others.

Reading the book leads all four women to reassess the state of their love lives. Vivian's attitudes towards sex without attachments are challenged when she runs into an old flame (Don Johnson). Just as Diane is on the brink of being talked into moving to Arizona by her two overprotective daughters (Alicia Silverstone and Katie Aselton), she meets a rich and dashing airline pilot (Andy Garcia). Sharon takes steps to possibly end her 18-year-long dry spell - and deal with the engagement of her ex-husband (Ed Begley Jr.) to a much younger woman - and ends up dating a couple of very different men (Richard Dreyfuss and Wallace Shawn), while Carol just wants to revive Bruce's youthful passion for her.

"Book Club" is predictable, but sweet and very funny. It's basically four rom-coms rolled into one, combined with the friendship dynamic of "Steel Magnolias". As such, it's formulaic, but the script has plenty of laughs (although most come during the first act) and the all-star cast is talented and charming enough to make this film more than the sum of its parts. "B".