The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Blistering performances.

A tap root into the subterranean strata of popularity in (1) Jane Austen and (2) "Sex and the City", both apparently having peaked at about the same time as this film was released. I'll bet Jane Austen never wrote such a clumsy sentence as the one I just finished writing. Five women -- all in varying degrees of domestic distress -- discover that they have a common interest in Jane Austen's novels and form a club to discuss them one at a time. They even invite a guy who pretty much holds his own. There are rough parallels between Austen's plots and the romantic careers of the club's members. I'll have to assume the parallels are there because they've been so often alluded to. I've never read any of the books. I've seen most of the available film versions but the characters and narratives are similar enough that I get them mixed up, just as I do with Dickens.You'll probably enjoy it more if you're already an Austen fan because some of the comments that crop up during the club meetings sound as if they make sense, although it may be going too far to suggest that the separation of eggs in the preparation of flan is symbolic of the divorce of somebody's parents. None of the performances really stand out but Emily Blunt is always oddly appealing and Maria Bello is precisely emotional enough.

I read the book of this before seeing the film (AND when I had read some, but not all, all of Jane Austen's novels). This can work to the detriment of a film, but it doesn't in this case. Both book and film are highly enjoyable.There are a number of reasons for this. The film is, for one thing, well cast. Each part is acted well and convincingly.In addition, despite some adjustments, the film sticks to the broad outline of the book. In it, a group of six people – one man and five women – meet over a period of six months to discuss Jane Austen's novels. They find that their lives are mirroring certain aspects of the novels' events in ways both surprising and interesting.I thought this worked best in the dynamic between the affected French teacher Prudie and her rather bovine husband Dean. Their marriage is in trouble and Prudie is in serious danger of doing something she shouldn't with one of her male pupils. Luckily, Austen's "Persuasion" comes galloping to the rescue.The film's last scene, set a year after the main events of the film, does wrap things up well, but is maybe a bit too packaged. Would Dean, for example, really take to reading Austen so easily?So a nice story, excellent acting, good camera work and music. They all make for good, undemanding entertainment. Rating: 7/10

Early on I sensed this film was totally infatuated with how clever, adorable, witty and wise it was. A Notting Hill misfire from the wrong side of the pond-I found the same flaws in that but at least it was clever enough to draw an occasional smile. Oh wait Lynn Redgrave did draw one but it was like laughing at people falling down stairs and you suddenly had to check yourself because you realized you were witnessing a small tragedy.The political initiatives were evident throughout from the younger man older woman mantra(even married man Smits leaves his wife for a comparably aged woman)to a beat you upside the head lesson in the coolness of being a California lesbian. I will admit that Emily Blunt was the one living entity to command my attention. Dressed like "a flight attendant"?-you bet, but boy did she pull it off-I'd fly with her to Detroit if that's what it took.

I originally thought that the movie would be about people talking about Jane Austen novels and then flashing back to scenes from the novel. As I generally like movies from Jane Austen novels, I thought it would be great. However, after I bought the DVD, my wife informed me that it was just women talking about the novels and she suggested that I wouldn't like it. After about a year on my shelf, I slipped it in the DVD player, expecting to stop it after ten or twenty minutes.I was quite surprised that I easily got through the whole thing. The characters became more and more interesting as the movie went on and I enjoyed the layering of the different emotions and stories.For me, the ensemble cast was good, but Kathy Bates, Maria Bello, and Emily Blunt stood out, especially Emily Blunt. She was acting on a much more intense level than any of the other characters. While everyone else was doing "MidSummer's Night Dream," she was doing "MacBeth." This mixture of light, light, dark, actually made the movie much more interesting and gave it a realistic flavor. I think Emily should have gotten a supporting actress Oscar nomination. It was an intense and beautiful performance.I always promise myself after watching a Jane Austen movie that I am going to read the novels when I get a chance. After this one, I'm really going to do it. After I finish reading Harriet Beacher's Stowe's, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Kafka's "America," and Richardson's dreadful "Pamela," "Sense and Sensibility" is next on my classic novels list.