Great company, solid laughs make this Club worth joining
Writer/director Bill Holderman, whose age isn’t listed on IMDB, but who looks to be in his late 40s or so, must be particularly close to his grandparents. His first screenplay, 2015’s A Walk in the Woods concerned two older men reconnecting on an ill-advised hiking trip, and now his newest screenplay — and his first directorial attempt — is about four senior citizen women on a similar journey of self-discovery. The women’s catalyst for change isn’t the Appalachian Trail, however; it’s E.L. James’s infamously titillating bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey. Co-written by actress and first time screenwriter Erin Simms, Book Club takes a fun but lightweight idea and makes it a success because of the quartet of legendary and always watchable actresses who bring the story to life.
Vivian (Jane Fonda) started a book club way back in 1974, the film tells us, recruiting gal pals Diane (Diane Keaton), Sharon (Candice Bergen), and Carol (Mary Steenburgen). The gang starts with Erica Jong’s classic Fear of Flying, and now, in the present day, have moved on from the Zipless you-know-what to James’s au courant S&M tale. How the book affects each of our heroines – each of whom is in the middle of personal upheaval – forms the basis of the always entertaining, if somewhat predictable story. Vivian, a commitment-shy, wealthy hotelier, is keeping old flame Arthur (Don Johnson) at bay, but should she? Federal judge and 18-years-divorced Sharon is startled when ex-hubby Tom (Ed Begley, Jr.) dyes his hair and becomes engaged to a much younger woman, prompting her to finally try online dating. Recently widowed Diane is fighting with her two worrywart daughters (Alicia Silverstone and Katie Aselton) who want her to move from Santa Monica to Scottsdale to live near them, but a chance meeting with pilot Mitchell (Andy Garcia) makes Diane reflect that she may not be quite as aged as her daughters seem to think. And long married chef Carol is dismayed to realize the spark may be fading as she approaches an anniversary with distracted husband Bruce (Craig T. Nelson).
With the set-ups and pairings in place, then, we are treated to what amounts to a pretty traditional romantic comedy. But the film’s message – that the AARP crowd is still deserving of, and entitled to, sex and romance – is refreshing, long overdue, and even groundbreaking. Of course it helps that Holderman and Simms have written a charming and often very funny script, which their players execute with joyful, dedicated verve.
One of the film’s funniest scenes involves the women discussing the book club staple Wild, without ever actually naming the book. And Bergen, as Sharon, gets all the best lines, and isn’t afraid to embrace embarrassing moments involving her colleagues and potential suitors (Wallace Shawn and Richard Dreyfuss, both highly amusing). Steenburgen’s Carol and Nelson’s Bruce, too, draw some of the film’s biggest laughs with a series of unintentional double entendres about Bruce’s old motorcycle, as well as a poorly timed Viagra incident (hinted at in the trailer; don’t watch it, and be surprised).
Keaton is also pleasure to watch; if you ever wondered what Annie Hall might be like post-70, go see this movie; in many scenes, Keaton seems to be purposefully and winkingly playing Diane as her famous 1977 alter ego. And it’s a true delight to see Fonda paired with Johnson, who is 12 years her junior, in a nice reversal from typical Hollywood romantic lead casting. That Johnson is the father of Dakota Johnson, who stars as protagonist Anastasia in the Fifty Shades of Grey movies, is of course never mentioned, but adds a meta element to the proceedings that compounds the fun.
Cinematographer Andrew Dunn deserves kudos as well; the Sedona Convention and Visitor’s Bureau will be ecstatic over this movie. In a particularly lovely scene, Mitchell takes Diane flying from Scottsdale (also filmed well) to Sedona, and the shots of the southwest landscape are breathtaking; the moment, set to Paul Simon’s “Late in the Evening,” creates a perfect spiritual underpinning to the change Diane begins to feel she’s ready for. In fact, the film’s soundtrack is exceptionally well curated, and one of the movie’s pleasures; songs by Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and, especially Meatloaf, are also used to great effect.
The movie doesn’t shy away from a bit of wistfulness, though, which is realistic, and just makes us appreciate the story and the actresses all the more. In an ending coda, we see old photos of the characters – and thus of the actresses themselves – in their younger years, and realize how long they’ve been on our screens, and what a treat it is to see them all together here. At one point Vivian quotes Dylan Thomas: “We should not go gentle into that good night,” she exclaims. Indeed neither should we, and Book Club is a fine film for making us realize it’s never to late to pursue our dreams, or to reach for happiness.
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Book Club opens today at Bay Area theaters.
