Review - Jane Austen Book Club

Jane Austen Book Club is just like a Jane Austen book, horribly contrived and overdone but still incredibly enjoyable. The book club consists of six people (five women, one man) who start the book club to escape their individual crises, namely divorce, infidelity, loss, loneliness, etc. (just like the themes of the Austen novels) because Bernadette (Kathy Baker) says that "Austen is the perfect antidote to life." As they begin to delve into Austen's work, one book per month, their lives begin to resemble more and more those of Austen's characters.
The film somehow manages to be about some of the schmaltziest literature in the English language and deal with some of the most sappy and mawkish themes possible without devolving into "just another chick-flick." It's certainly not the screenplay that somehow manages this feat, but rather the amazing ensemble of actresses. Each of the lead actresses is recognizable but none of them are superstars, which makes them easily identifiable and easy to relate to. They are like that lady down the street who you don't know by name but you always seem to see when you take the dogs out. Book Club works because it takes that figure and peels it back layer by layer until each character's eventual breakdown.
Of particular note in the ensemble is Emily Blunt who plays an uptight French teacher, disconnected from her husband and in love with one of her students. She has several stellar scenes but none so convincing as when she finally approaches her husband who "thinks Austen is a city in Texas," begging him to read Persuasion about two people who used to love each other and how they persuade themselves to try again. If you haven't figured it out--the two people are her and her husband who have been gradually growing apart since the beginning of the movie.
Also excellent is Hugh Dancy who is coerced into being the only male member of the book club by Jocelyn (Maria Bello) who wants to pair him up with Sylvia (Amy Brenneman). The problem is that he is in love with Jocelyn. In the end, like all good Austen romances, they of course end up together. Possibly the best scene of the movie is when it is time for his character to host the book club meeting. The ladies show up at his door to be greeted by a haunted house in honor of the gothic novel, Northanger Abbey and more specifically the story within a story, The Mysteries of Udolpho.
The greatest accomplishment of Book Club is that it managed to do what 4 years of high school could not. It actually made me want to read Jane Austen. In fact, it made me want to read in general. There is something about finding redemption in someone else's words and someone else's stories that speaks to the book nerd in me.
Book Club is certainly not for everyone. There is not a single explosion or murder in the whole two hours. But it is most definitely for anyone who loves books, specifically but not necessarily Jane Austen, or for anyone who appreciates a movie that leaves them feeling satisfied. There is most definitely a place for happy endings in Hollywood and movies like Book Club is where they belong.