Book Club (2018)

With formidable star power it should be outstanding, but, sadly, this story of four older women whose lives are changed by reading 50 Shades of Grey is just okay. It wastes the talents of Diane Keaton (last blogged for Darling Companion), Jane Fonda (after Youth, I loved her 55 episodes of Grace and Frankie (2015-now and renewed for 2019!)), Candice Bergen (most recently in The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)), and Mary Steenburgen (after I profiled her in The Proposal and mentioned her in Last Vegas, I saw her in six episodes of Orange Is the New Black (2015-17), six of Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000, 2007, 2009, 2017), and am slogging through to finish 57 of The Last Man on Earth (2015-18)).

Perhaps we can blame director/co-writer Bill Holderman, who makes his directing debut and has co-written one other movie which we didn't see, and his co-writer Erin Simms, also a debut. I tried to read 50 Shades of Grey when it got so popular but was put off by the bad writing and the whole bondage thing, which this feminist finds icky. And I was put off by the mediocre writing of this movie, even though the stars are good fun.

The women are joined by Andy Garcia (most recently in City Island), Craig T. Nelson (last blogged for The Company Men), Don Johnson (best known for 111 episodes of Miami Vice (1984-90), he was also good in The Hot Spot (1990), and Tin Cup (1996), to name a few), Alicia Silverstone (I gave her short shrift when writing about The Art of Getting By, so she's best known for Clueless (1996) and I liked her in Blast from the Past (1999)), Richard Dreyfuss (some of his best work includes American Graffiti (1973), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974), Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), The Goodbye Girl (1977), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Stand by Me (1986), Nuts (1987), What About Bob? (1991), Mr. Holland's Opus (1995), W. (2008) as Dick Cheney, and four episodes each of Weeds (2010) and Parenthood (2011)), Ed Begley Jr. (since Whatever Works he's done many things, including five episodes each of Family Tree in 2013 and Better Call Saul in 2016), Wallace Shawn (last blogged for Admission), and many more.

Peter Nashel's (scored I, Tonya) music isn't available online and I don't remember it from seeing this movie last week.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences, averaging 58 and 63%, respectively, are as tepid as we are. Streaming and DVD are estimated for August 2018. If you want to see this, it's probably best to watch it at home.