REVIEW: Book Club

I found myself rushing home from University the other night, having skipped dinner, being partially sick and in a panic I was going to miss… Book Club. Yeah. It was at that point I realised, not that far from the cinema, that my life had hit a new low.

Veteran actresses unite in the feel-good romcom, Book Club, where four ladies try spicing up their love life after reading the E.L. James erotic romance novel, Fifty Shades of Grey.

So the truth of the matter is, it’s been three days since I saw Book Club and you may be wondering “why didn’t he just review it then and there” or “how come it took so long for a critique of Book Club“… well that’s the thing; I really don’t know what to say about Book Club.

(Harvey 2018)

On base level, Book Club is a cute and harmless romp with legends like Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen infusing their loveable characteristics and charm together to give some likeable performances. The chemistry of the cast is present and I would say if you are in the age of bracket of probably 50 up, Book Club would pleasantly suit you as an audience member. However, if you are not equipped with a glass of sparkling wine and time in your schedule to just day drink and gossip with your elderly friends over a steamy Twilight fanfiction novel – there really is nothing in this movie for you.

For around three years I have been strategically avoiding seeing and reviewing the Fifty Shades movies (you know, because I enjoy my life way too much) and I believe I have done a good job of that, now that the trilogy has come to an end. Yet, here comes good old Book Club with the inclusion of the titular novel, breaking my awesome streak. So, there: that’s points against Book Club. Although, if you are planning to see Book Club (I doubt it) and are worried about how much Fifty Shades will feature in the narrative – the answer is, the book mercifully appears only briefly. The movie only really uses Fifty Shades as a jumping off point, as some fluffy and light shenanigans ensue.

Book Club has some funny moments, some awkward moments and some sweet moments, but ultimately it just comes off as a TV movie released cinematically. Book Club feels like a movie that was churned out in a week, with a script barely cobbled together and only enough money to attract stars like Keaton and Fonda. And trust me, Book Club does its job for what it is. If you have seen the posters and the trailers for this movie, then you know exactly how Book Club will play out. Sure you can like this movie and enjoy it, but the fact is, it just appears as a real lazy effort.

The cinematography is so glossy, the score is basically elevator music, the ending is shockingly abrupt and the final act is full of such cheesy speeches on life and love that I began to wonder whether Book Club existed in a heightened reality where sh*t like chasing a loved one to an airport actually happens (but if that ever has happened to you, email in; I would love to hear about your romantic story).

So let us just flip to the last page of this novel we all have already read countless times – Book Club is, plain and simple, fine for what it is. Yes it is dumb and lazy but the movie is also smart since it targets its exact crowd of moviegoers and panders to said audience with such force that it is difficult to unlike the drama that unfolds in this movie. A soap opera condensed into the length of movie, Book Club is just another chapter of 2018 cinema, I will likely forget when I flip to the next page.

Book Club sadly belongs in the… KINGDOM OF THE CRIMINALLY DULL…

 

Image Sources:

• BLT Communications, LLC 2018, ‘Book Club (2018)’, IMP Awards, TMDb, viewed 26 August 2018, http://www.impawards.com/2018/book_club_ver2.html
• Harvey, D 2018, ‘Film Review: ‘Book Club”, Variety, WordPress.com, viewed 26 August 2018, https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/book-club-review-1202806602/

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