'Jane Austen' hard to resist
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By Christopher Kelly McClatchy Newspapers - Published: September 26, 2007
The stereotypes stack up quickly in "The Jane Austen Book Club," Robin Swicord's adaptation of Karen Joy Fowler's bestseller about a group of women who find sustenance and inspiration by reading Jane Austen.
We meet Sylvia (Amy Brenneman), the middle-aged mom whose husband (Jimmy Smits) has left her for another woman; and Sylvia's lesbian daughter, Allegra (Maggie Grace), an impetuous risk-taker who falls in and out of love in the blink of an eye. There's also Bernadette (Kathy Baker), the free-spirited 50-something, Jocelyn (Maria Bello), the commitment-phobic 30-something, and Prudie (Emily Blunt), the uptight 20-something trapped in a joyless marriage. Had Barbara Walters been cast as the wise old septuagenarian, this could have doubled as an ABC talk show.
But although "The Jane Austen Book Club" feels as if it were created in some kind of chick-flick Cuisinart, it's also hard to resist. Swicord moves the proceedings along with bright, bouncy flair, and she dares to show us something unheard of in American movies — scenes in which characters actually discuss literature.
The plot revolves around how the five women — along with hunky guy Grigg (Hugh Dancy) — form a book club in which they will read Austen's six novels. Along the way, they find their own lives reflected in the conflicts of Austen's heroines and heroes.
You've seen pretty much all of this before: The laughing and weeping and the long conversations about how difficult it is to sustain a strong relationship; those with Y chromosomes may walk out desperate for a fix of "The Bourne Ultimatum." But the wonderful performances — especially Blunt's, as the bottled-up school teacher who begins a dangerous flirtation with a student, and Dancy, as the sci-fi junkie who gamely signs up to tackle Austen — more than compensate.
"The Jane Austen Book Club" aims to be little more than crowd-pleasing, female-friendly fun. But it hits that target square.
3 stars (out of 5)
Cast: Amy Brenneman, Maria Bello
Director: Robin Swicord
106 min., PG-13 (sexual content, strong language, drug use)
19