Lame rather than Dame……..
As there have been several light comedies where randy old men are given license to indulge their sexual instincts (‘Last Vegas’ and ‘The Bucket List’ two of the best known is this generally lame category of films), it seems only fair women at the Grandmother stage of life should be allowed the same opportunity.
‘BOOK CLUB’ (director Bill Holderman, 114 minutes), provides that opportunity, but what initially seems a good idea in switching genders to explore notions of sex and relationships from the perspective of older women ends up as little more than a collection of well-worn clichés – the film failing both as a sassy romantic comedy and geriatric gender farce.
‘Book Club’ is the tale of four old friends who meet on a monthly basis to drink large amounts of white wine and discuss a book chosen by one of the group. When the sexually charged best-seller ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ by E.L. James is selected it causes the four friends, Vivian (Jane Fonda) Diane (Diane Keaton), Sharon (Candice Bergen) and Carol (Mary Steenburgen) to assess the state of their relationships (or lack of) but more pertinently the absence of sex from their lives – each of them afflicted by this late-in-life sexual malaise except hotel owner Vivian. High Court judge Sharon has not partaken since divorcing eighteen years before, Carol has entered a period of abstinence since her husband Bruce (Craig T Nelson) retired – his life now lacking purpose and libido – while widower of a year Diane is treated like a piece of fine china by her overbearing daughters, Keaton cast to reprise her ‘Annie Hall’ role of forty years earlier as if to emphasise how much time has passed since the wild days of the seventies.
The double-entendres come thick and fast as they penetrate (ahem) further into the book with the worst of the word play in a largely ham-fisted script reminiscent of ‘Carry On’ films at their very worst. The unfolding story brings aging DJ Lothario Arthur (Don Johnson) back into the life of Vivian, (a former boyfriend from the distant past who she discarded on the point of marriage), while pilot Mitchell (Andy Garcia) becomes acquainted with Diane, meeting on a plane while she is reading, you guessed it ‘Moby Dick’ (a visual gag the ‘Carry On’ writers might have used). All the time Carol is becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of interest Bruce is showing in physical engagement, displaying much more interest in his vintage motorcycle – cue plenty of thrust, stiff crankshaft, great ride innuendos when describing the motorbike to his wife’s friends when they convene at their home. Judging by their sniggering at least they found them funny.
Far worse is to come (pun unintentional) when Carol slips Viagra into his drink when they are in a bar, rising embarrassment causing them to leave in a hurry. On the drive home they are pulled over by the police who give him a hard time (sorry) and in the most obvious set piece of the film, the police woman eventually allows them to proceed, wishing Bruce on his way with ‘have a good evening,’ and giving Carol a coy smile she adds: ‘You too.’
The most affecting five minutes in ‘Book Club’ is where Sharon goes on a blind dinner-date with George (Richard Dreyfuss) who she has met on-line. He too has been out of the dating game for some time and here at last the dialogue has some subtlety and depth as they describe how their lives have landed them at this point. It is also compensation for the ‘old people with technology’ mishaps that proceed the scene, the fiasco of posting unflattering profile photographs both obvious and unnecessary.
The scene between Bergen and Dreyfuss shows what four very fine actresses could have done with superior material and although they each do their best ‘Book Club’ will not rank as a career highlight for any of them. In the final half hour the predictability of everybody gravitating to where their desires can be met takes hold, Vivian and Diane overcoming physical and emotional obstacles to be with their respective men, the dormant passion in Bruce is reawakened and there is even hope Sharon and George will advance into the future. By now romance rather than raunch is the order of the day, desperate housewives supplanted by Mills & Boon.
NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of MONTY’S DOUBLE – an acclaimed thriller now available as an Amazon Kindle Book.