Fifty Shades of Chardonnay: Book Club Movie Review

Movie Review: Book Club

A bound volume of vintage tomes gives a flimsy script some awards-hardware heft, and a few stray surprises, in a surreal celebration of sex, wine and stereotype.

Book Club

3/5

Starring: Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, Ed Begley, Richard Dreyfuss

Directed by: Bill Holderman

Running time: 1hr 44 mins

Rating: PG-13

By Katherine Monk

One can heartily embrace the idea of women getting together and talking about books. But put the word “club” in it, and suddenly, it’s not a literary soiree as much as gossipy Kaffeeklatsch with Chardonnay and cheese.

Don’t get me wrong. I love it when gals get together and dish out hors d’oeuvres of dirt on rhetorical cocktail napkins. It’s the stuff Empires and Sex and the City were made of: juicy tidbits of deeply personal revelation that push us all into a state of comically safe self-reflection — or should the gals be wearing orange instead of black, a full-on women’s prison riot.

Certainly, first-time director and co-writer Bill Holderman was looking for the former in Book Club. A collection of vintage tomes in a single binding, this rom-com-for-moms features Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen as longtime friends who’ve shared a book night for four decades.

We see their fresh faces in the opening frames, old pictures of the stars seamlessly assembled with the use of digital technology to form a happy group photo. It’s a little surreal, but that’s just the beginning of this scenic tour of classic monuments that takes us from the Grand Canyon of aging vagina cliches to the Mount Rushmore of plastic facial re-sculpting.

It’s a little surreal, but that’s just the beginning of this scenic tour of classic monuments that takes us from the Grand Canyon of aging vagina cliches to the Mount Rushmore of plastic facial re-sculpting.

They don’t talk so much about the surgical work, but it’s hard not notice. By the same token, it’s perfectly age-appropriate and fits into the surroundings like a chintz floral print throw pillow.

And really, that’s sort of what this movie is: A magazine layout of styled characters in a pleasing, tasteful environment that speaks to a certain demographic of affluence. There is a beautiful ranch house in Sedona, a lovely Malibu cottage and rooftop patio overlooking Los Angeles’s Roosevelt Hotel, and a forgotten man cave in need of motor oil. And then, there are the locations.

There is no real plot, per se. The only hook is they all read Fifty Shades of Grey and start talking about their own sex lives. Fonda’s hotel owner has decided she only sleeps with men she doesn’t care about. Steenburgen’s suburban wife needs to kickstart her husband’s two-stroke. Keaton’s widowed mom is being forced to move in with her daughters in Phoenix, and Bergen’s bewildered federal judge decides to date online.

Bergen is easily the best part of the whole movie. She’s the only one who reads as “authentic” in this cluttered purse of lady-stuff cliche.

Bergen is easily the best part of the whole movie. She’s the only one who reads as “authentic” in this cluttered purse of lady-stuff cliche.

Plus she can still sell a joke better than a cosmetics counter can sell lipstick with a sample giveaway. She puts you on and wears you out the store. Her sharp delivery executed with a physical flourish steals your attention every time, and she’s kind enough to share the wealth of humour with her friends.

She pulls the worlds of Fonda, Keaton and Steenburgen together through some mysterious, six-degree force of Hollywood personae. She’s also having fun.

The other side plots, involving Don Johnson, Craig T. Nelson and Andy Garcia, have their moments. But the core of this movie is the female dynamic, and whether or not the relationships feel real.

This cast of talents make us believe in their friendship, but they can’t make us believe the scenarios, or awkward lines like “Men are impossible to live with!” without laughing at the line itself.

In fact, that’s actually part of this movie’s charm. It’s got a Fifty Shades of Grey writing style that almost seems designed to make you giggle at its vulgarity, and titter at its amateurish prose.

Either way, you’ll find yourself laughing at Book Club. And when you aren’t, there are lots of nice homes and gardens for your eyes to wander in — as well as the assurance that nothing truly bad happens at Book Club.

@katherinemonk

 

THE EX-PRESS, May 18, 2018

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Review: Book Club

User Rating

5 (1 Votes)

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A bound volume of vintage tomes gives a flimsy script some awards-hardware heft, and a few stray surprises, in a surreal celebration of sex, wine and stereotype. -- Katherine Monk

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