Movie Review: "The Jane Austen Book Club"

Lately I've been devouring anything Jane Austen (have you been watching the Jane Austen season on Masterpiece on PBS? if you haven't..WHY NOT????) I haven't read the book this movie is based on so I can't do a comparison of the two. If you have ever been in a book club, this movie is probably for you as it shows the lives of the members in and out of the club and the relationships they face.

I wish I could have been a part of the club. Jane Austen is a fantastic subject to discuss. I do wish they had spent more time discussing the actual books in the movie. The book club meetings were only shown for a few minutes. The discussions that took place were really interesting and did give more insight into the books and the author herself. I giggled and groaned at Grigg's comparison of Edmund and Fanny in Mansfield Park to Luke and Leia in Star Wars. I'm surprised that no mention was made of her short stories that were published also. You'd think the fanatics might have mentioned it at least.

The actors fit naturally in this ensemble piece. I liked all of them, some more than others. Grigg was my favorite. Hugh Dancy is adorable. And I never knew a lot of those science fiction authors were female. I only had a few minor quirks with this movie. One isn't about the movie at all but this DVD cover. Why is Jimmy Smits on the cover and not Hugh Dancy? Grigg was a member of the book club, not Daniel. I suppose Jimmy Smits is more recognizable than Hugh Dancy, but it's not fair to leave out an actual member of the title. Also Jocelyn sometimes annoyed me because she kept being flipfloppy about how she felt about Grigg. And then when he did finally do what she wanted, she got mad with him. Typical women. And Prudie should not have gotten involved with the student. You just don't.

This movie is rated PG13 but I would not recommend it for younger teens. There is quite a bit of sexual content in this movie that is definately not appropriate for the younger set.

Comments

  1. Tami10:35 AM

    Hi! I tagged you for a fun blog game: http://creativetree.typepad.com/treeswingreading/2008/02/well-blogger-fa.html
    Have a good day!
    Tami from Tree Swing Reading

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous2:38 PM

    I remember reading the book but not much about the book and the one thing that bothered me about the movie was that the daughter was the only one at the end of the movie without someone at the table with her. I guess my hope is that there was a happily ever after for everyone. Even the lesbian daughter ;)

    ReplyDelete

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