What a waste of some perfectly wonderful legends "Book Club" is.
It's so great to see Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen join forces at a time when older actresses often are overlooked in Hollywood. Too bad they're floundering about in an undercooked, silly and often downright inexplicable romantic comedy that plays like lesser Nora Ephron.
Much lesser Nora Ephron.
Fonda plays Vivian, the stylish and decidedly single owner of an upscale hotel. Vivian has never wanted for companionship, but she has always put business first and never gotten involved in a serious relationship.
Bergen is Sharon, a federal judge who is still smarting over her jerky husband, Tom (Ed Begley Jr.), leaving her 15 years ago. He has recently become engaged to a much, much younger woman. Sharon, meanwhile, hasn't had so much as a date since the breakup.
Steenburgen is Carol, a successful chef happily married to Bruce (Craig T. Nelson). But ever since Bruce retired, let's just say it's been quite the romantic dry spell.
Keaton is Diane (apparently they ran out of character names), a widow whose two grown children (Alicia Silverstone and Katie Aselton) treat her as if she's a doddering, forgetful, ancient relic who can't be trusted to live on her own anymore, even though it's perfectly clear Diane is vibrant, healthy and in complete command of her faculties.
Each month, the ladies get together to discuss a work of literature they've all just read. One month, instead of literature, they decide to go with "Fifty Shades of Grey," and while you might well expect at least one of these intelligent, sophisticated women to hurl the book across the room after 50 pages and exclaim, "I can't take any more of this claptrap," they're all deeply titillated.
