As y'all know, I am a big fan of Miss Jane Austen and so anything connected with her works is an absolute must-see for me.Well The Jane Austen Book Club is very loosely connected, in as much as reading her books is the reason the characters come together. So if you are expecting a Jane Austen type period drama, you will be disappointed.
However this screenplay is cleverly woven around her novels and characters, with the book club members lives taking on some of the fictional characters problems. There are five strong women in the book club and a lone man who secretly lusts after one of the women. They are all at crossroads in their lives and meeting as a group, reading aloud and discussing the novels seemingly starts the process of them all moving forward. They themselves see the comparisons with the books and even start to alter the order they read JA's six novels in, to protect each others fragile emotional states.
This movie has a good cast, no real superstars but actors you will know by either name or face. They include Emily Blunt as a seriously neurotic French teacher being tempted by a student, Kathy Baker as a six time married free spirit, Amy Brenneman as the heartbroken recent divorcee, and Jimmy Smits as the cheating ex husband.
We both enjoyed this film, it keeps your attention, I liked the group ensemble feel and the JA connection actually works pretty well.
2 comments:
Sarah, I saw this movie and I really liked it. You are right though when you say, "if you are expecting a period piece you won't be seeing one".
Did you read the book? I was very let down by the thought that it would be more Austen-ish. And, it def. was not.
I hope the kitty is better soon.
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