The Jane Austen Book Club Review
by Steve Rhodes (steve DOT rhodes AT internetreviews DOT com)September 19th, 2007
THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2007 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
"A little Jane Austen is better than none at all," Bernadette (Kathy Baker) tells her girlfriends in THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB. And, a contemporary movie told in the style of a Jane Austen novel and containing lots of Austen references is even better still.
Filled with pithy and funny lines and bursting with subtle but wonderful characters, it is the best thing an Austen fan could hope for, short of another adaptation of one of her famous books. The surprise is that the movie crafts such universally appealing characters that it's not just a chick flick and it's not even necessary to know anything whatsoever about Austen to enjoy the film.
Undemanding of its viewers and very entertaining, the movie goes from cute to sweet to endearing, as we come to know a large host of well developed characters in a standard length motion picture. This feat speaks volumes about the skills of writer and director Robin Swicord, who adapted Karen Joy Fowler's novel for the screen. Although your head may be spinning in the first ten minutes trying to keep all the characters straight, Swicord manages gracefully but not pedantically to introduce us properly to everyone.
The central theme to the tale is the eponymous club, which is a vehicle for six women to come together for bonding and to discuss the six books by their favorite author. The women have nothing against the male sex, but, since "men pontificate," they don't want them in their book club.
In addition to Bernadette, the book club is started by Sylvia (Amy Brenneman), Jocelyn (Maria Bello), Prudie (Emily Blunt) and Allegra (Maggie Grace). Before they can find a sixth female to add to their group, Jocelyn commits a faux pas by asking Grigg (Hugh Dancy) to join them.
Like the plot of an Austen story -- the characters in the movie keep making analogies between their own lives and that of characters in various Austen novels -- every person in the film has their special set of trials and tribulations to endure. This is all kept very light-weight, so you can leave your tissues at home.
Grigg, a rich young guy who still works in tech support because he likes his job, is young and dashingly handsome. A sci-fi geek, he has never cracked open an Austen book until now, while all of the women have been dyed-in-the-wool Austen readers, since, one supposes, just after birth.
Never-married Jocelyn views her role in life as helping others. She also likes to be obeyed, we're told, which is the reason she raises dogs for a living. Seeing them as her companions in life, the movie opens with the funeral of one of her canine companions.
Life's lessons are preached from Austen's collected works. "Austen's all about keeping it zipped," Jocelyn tells her friends. Well, Daniel (Jimmy Smits), Sylvia's husband for the past twenty years, has not been following the Austen bible of late. After a six-month affair with someone in his office, he confesses his transgressions to his wife and says it's time for them to call the marriage quits.
Jocelyn asks Grigg to join the club, because she wants to hook him up with Sylvia after her formal separation from Daniel. Grigg is confused since he thinks Jocelyn is trying to get him to date Sylvia's daughter Allegra, who turns out to be a lesbian. Sylvia certainly needs help since she worries that "my body will become a museum," after her divorce. She figures that single men her age will all want to date younger women.
My favorite character is aptly named Prudie. Appearing prudish and snooty, she likes to correct others if they don't have the same interpretation of Austen as she does. She also lapses, for no apparent reason, other than she can, into French when making her arguments. A high school teacher, she finds herself uncontrollably drawn to a hot eighteen-year-old senior at her school. Both of them want to consummate their affair, but Prudie keeps reasoning, with Austenian logic, that it would be better if they just imagined having sex with each other than actually doing it.
Predicable for sure, but always delightful, the film is a real treat for moviegoers in general and Austen fans in particular.
THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB runs 1:45. It is rated PG-13 for "mature thematic material, sexual content, brief strong language and some drug use" and would be acceptable for kids around 10 and up.
The film opens in limited release in the United States on Friday, September 21, 2007. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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