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SYNOPSIS:
Six months. Six novels. Six members.
When five women and one man get together to discuss the English
writer's beloved novels, they realize the heartaches of Emma,
Mr Darcy and the Bennet sisters are not so different from
their own. Finding comfort, wit and wisdom from the pages
and each other, they discover that in matters of love, all
they need to ask is: What would Jane do?
MOVIE
REVIEW
Many friends
have expressed their shock at how this reviewer doesn’t
read a lot. The condescending look which says “You are
not very intellectual” irks me a bit, but thanks to
movies, I still get the gist when people start conversing
about novels written by famous authors. Jane Austen, for example,
is one great female author, but whatever I know about would
her be from movies like Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield
Park. And now we have this Robin Swicord-directed film about
a group of people talking to each other about this 18th century
English writer.
Kathy
Baker (All the King’s Men), Maria Bello (World Trade
Center), Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada), Maggie Grace
(TV’s Lost) and Hugh Dancy (Savage Grace) are some of
the urban Californians start a club to discuss Austen’s
books. And as all troubled habitants of the city will tell
you, these people would probably have problems with their
relationships, and the more they talk about the author’s
works, they begin to realize that their lives resemble contemporary
versions of her novels.
Because
this is a movie about a book club, expect lots of talking.
It’s almost like hearing the characters talking to their
psychiatrists about their issues. Is love everything you need
in a relationship? Is commitment a key factor after marriage?
Are past affections worth another shot in life? Familiar real
life problems surface evidently in this 105-minute movie.
Someone’s husband dumps her for another woman. Sylvia's
husband dumps her for another woman. Someone’s marriage
may be on the rocks. Someone contemplates an affair with a
younger man. Someone’s ex keeps showing up in her life.
How do these people even find time to meet to discuss the
intricacies of Austen’s finely-written novels?
Which
is why, this movie will appeal greatly to the modern women
and fans of Austen. The female viewer will empathize with
the issues discussed in the movie. Austen’s fans will
find themselves ogling at every trivia surfaced during the
book club discussions. This nicely sums up the genre of the
movie (read: chick flick). There will probably be a small
fraction of men who just want to know more about the female
species and attempt to woo girls with their knowledge of Austen’s
works.
One
winning factor of this movie is its well-rounded cast. Everyone
seems comfortable with each other, and there is nice chemistry
amongst the leads. They almost inspired this reviewer to go
out there to join a book club to discuss about real life issues,
before he realized that he doesn’t read a lot –
yes, reading entertainment magazines isn’t really considered
as reading.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains a “Cast and
Crew Commentary” where they talk about the
joy of working together in the team. The 22-minute “Behind
the Scenes of The Jane Austen Book Club” has
the cast talking about their favorite Austen novel, while
the 22-minute “The Life of Jane Austen”
is a detailed documentary for the true blue Austen fan. “The
Book Club: Deconstructed” is a 12-minute featurette
where the director breaks down the characters and tells us
about how each of them contribute to the story of the movie.
The 3-minute “Walking the Red Carpet: Los Angeles
Premiere” sees the stars being happy and excited
at the premiere of the movie. There are also seven “Deleted
Scenes” and two “Trailers”
for other Sony Pictures releases.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The
visual transfer is pristine to showcase the book club’s
regular meetings and discussions, while there are audio options
of English, Spanish, Portuguese and Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital
soundtracks to choose from.
MOVIE
RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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