THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB
Director: Robin Swicord Stars: Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Marc Blucas, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman, Hugh Dancy, Maggie Grace, Jimmy Smits, Kevin Zegers, Lynn Redgrave
Reviewed by GREG KING
Two hundred years ago Jane Austen wrote tales in which conflicted heroines fretted about finding both happiness and the right man to marry. In this contemporary romantic drama, her quaintly old-fashioned tales have an unexpected relevance for a group of misfits in modern day Los Angeles.
A group of six people form an impromptu book club in which their prime focus is the six novels of Jane Austen. But they soon find parallels between Austen’s tales and her prim heroines and their own lives.
The oft-married Bernadette (Kathy Baker) is the mother hen and driving force behind the formation of the book club as she believes that Austen’s values and ideals are the panacea for what ails anyone, even today. Jocelyn (Maria Bello) is mourning the death of her beloved pet dog when Bernadette invites her to join the club, hoping that it will provide her with a distraction.
Grigg (British born Hugh Dancy, last seen in Evening, etc) is the token male of the group. Something of an IT geek, the handsome thirtysomething has eyes for Jocelyn, although Bernadette sees him as a possible partner for Sylvia (Amy Brenneman, from tv series Judging Amy), who has recently divorced her husband (Jimmy Smits). Sylvia’s lesbian daughter Allegra (Maggie Grace, from Lost) initially goes along with the club to support her mother, but soon finds solace and meaning in the works of Austen when her own long-term relationship falls apart.
Prudie (Emily Blunt, from The Devil Wears Prada, etc) is a neurotic young high school teacher adjusting to life with her new husband, and finding married life far more disappointing that she expected. She is also emotionally confused when one of her students (Kevin Zegers, from Transamerica, etc) begins making overt sexual advances.
Writer/director Robin Swicord has faithfully adapted the film from Karen Joy Fowler’s popular novel. Better known as a writer who has adapted a number of popular romantic dramas to the screen, such as Memoirs Of A Geisha and Little Women, Swicord handles the material in a fairly conventional fashion. There is probably more passion and sex in one of Austen’s novels than there is in this charming but rather flatly directed “chick flick.” Some of the narrative strands seem unnecessarily contrived, and the subplot involving Blunt’s character seems uncomfortable and unconvincing. The gay subplot is also handled without resorting to sensationalism.
Swicord has assembled a wonderful ensemble, many of whom are drawn from the world of tv dramas, to bring the characters to life. Bello, Baker, and Dancy are the standouts though, as they manage to make their characters a little less one-dimensional.
The Jane Austen Book Club is a pleasant enough romantic comedy/drama about relationships and friendship, but it is ultimately nothing special. Those with a working knowledge of Austen’s novels and the romantic plight of her heroines will probably appreciate this film more than any one else, as they will be able to identify the characters and the novels that their individual personal crises clearly represent.
**1/2
Reviewed by PETER MALONE
This is a book of product placement (and this is not meant to refer to the many scenes in and mentions of Starbucks). It is product placement for Jane Austen and her novels. While the screenplay tries to explain the many parallels between its characters and Jane’s, those not in the know might be hard put to appreciate what the characters are actually talking about. Buy the books!
Another difficulty is that the men in the film have not read Jane Austen’s novels while the women definitely have and love them, are happy to discuss them and to see the parallels in their own lives. It may be the same for audiences – though for the women getting the men to watch the film with them, they will be consoled that the men do read the books and finally become part of the Jane Austen book club.
One might call this an allegory of Jane Austen characters and situations. The six members (five women and one man) take a novel each and the film shows us the six months while each takes a turn in leading discussion on a particular novel. And the parallels and the references are there to enjoy. Yes, it is contrived. In fact, it is very, very contrived. Those not into this kind of structure may be wearied and put off, but those who enter into it and draw on their memories of the books and characters may well be fascinated.
There is a good cast. The attractive Maria Bello is unmarried but breeds dogs and tries to control people’s lives – for their benefit, of course. She is an Emma. She doesn’t realize she has met her Mr Knightly in the form of young science-fiction expert, Hugh Dancy, who tries to persuade her to read Ursula Le Guin. Amy Brenneman’s husband, Jimmy Smits, has walked out on her for another woman. She is a Fanny Price, serious and dutiful, from Mansfield Park. Her daughter, Maggie Grace, is in lesbian relationships. Her book is Sense And Sensibility. Emily Blunt is a buttoned up daughter of a hippy (Lynn Redgrave) and is dismayed by her one-of-the-boys husband. She and he have to go through a Persuasion experience. Hugh Dancy has taken on Northanger Abbey and set up a kind of Ghost Train experience in his house for the club meeting. A flamboyant Kathy Baker, founder of the club, has been married six times and ventures on a seventh in the spirit of Elizabeth Bennett.
While the film traces the ups and downs of relationships, it moves definitely at the end to up and up.