A One Mann’s Movies review of “Book Club: The Next Chapter” (2023).
(As sponsored by the Italian Tourist Board and “those nice people” at Lufthansa!)
It’s 5 years since the first “Book Club” film came out and one of the blessings, given the ages of the four stars – totalling 309 years!- is that they are all still with us! “Book Club: The Next Chapter” is the usual answer to the question of “What do we do with a character-led movie in the sequel?” – the answer being “Send them abroad”! They did it for “The Inbetweeners”; they did it for “Downton Abbey”; and now that’s what they’ve done with “The Book Club“. Its more of the same nattering and gentle humour, but this time in Italy.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Vivian (Jane Fonda) is getting married to Arthur (Don Johnson), although with some reservations at losing her unmarried status. Her friends Diane (Diane Keaton), Sharon (Candice Bergen) and Carol (Mary Steenbergen) take her on a hen-trip to Italy. But there’s a surprise for Vivian in store.
Certification:
UK: 12; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC: “Infrequent strong language, moderate sex references”).
Talent:
Starring: Jane Fonda, Mary Steenbergen, Candice Bergen, Diane Keaton, Don Johnson, Andy Garcia, Craig T. Nelson, Giancarlo Giannini, Hugh Quarshie, Vincent Riotta.
Directed by: Bill Holderman.
Written by: Bill Holderman & Erin Simms.
Twitter Handle: #BookClub.
Rome arrival. From L to R Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenbergen. (Source: Focus Features)
“Book Club: The Next Chapter” Review:
Positives:
- The film starts quite positively with a lock-down zoom call that had a few decent jokes. (It didn’t last!)
- Of all of the four lead actresses, Mary Steenbergen takes the prize for the best performer. She has a natural and appealing style. Candice Bergen’s character is also well-written and (as in the first film) she performs it well. Then, in the supporting acting, Andy Garcia is his usual class act and it is good to see “Mr Incredible”/Poltergeist‘s Craig T. Nelson in a big-screen role again(**). By the way, if you were wondering like me where the hell you had seen the police chief (played by Giancarlo Giannini) before, he was the agent Rene Mathis in “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace” . (Although he’s also been a prolific actor in177 (and counting) films, mostly Italian language ones).
- The cinematography by Andrew Dunn stunningly shows off the Italian locations including Rome, Venice, Tuscany and Florence.
** I must apologise to Mr Nelson that I thought he was dead and that this was his last screen role! I’m not sure who I saw had passed to get confused with him, but my bad!
Negatives:
- The script is by the same authors as the original “Book Club”. Oh dear. It’s so lame and wooden. There are a few jokes that made me laugh – but they are few and far between. Most of the dialogue between the four ladies is head-in-hands awful – I’d like to think it was improvised and they were just bad at it. But I fear it was scripted.
- I’m afraid Diane Keaton annoyed the hell out of me! Her acting style (which probably hasn’t changed a lot since “Annie Hall”) involves generally gurning away in every scene. It’s very distracting.
- The last 30 minutes of the film (which to my misfortune – a long story – I’ve seen twice) is truly terrible. Aside from a grumpy violinist, all of the laughs stop and the film becomes sickly-sweet and vomit-inducing.
- There’s a phenomenally crass bit of product placement for Lufthansa!
Summary Thoughts on “Book Club: The Next Chapter”
It’s more of the same with “Book Club 2”. And my rating could, and should, have been harsher but for one thing. I’ve been to two showings of this, and both were pretty full, with the audience comprising mostly groups of mixed-age women. And – something both myself and the illustrious Mrs Movie Man found unbelievable – they all seemed to be having a much better time than we were! So this movie DOES seem to appeal to a particular audience and anything that brings customers into cinemas must be good.
The illustrious Mrs Movie Man suggested that because there seemed to be so few movies for this particular demographic, they came in droves and were DETERMINED to have a good time. That might be so, but frankly they deserved better than this.
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Trailer for “Book Club: The Next Chapter”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9k213d5FU0 .
