The Jane Austen Book Club (original) (raw)
The Jane Austen Book Club directed by Robin Swicord with Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, Jimmy Smits, Amy Brenneman based upon the novel The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler.
Based on Joy Fowler's library hit, the film follows six Californians who found The Jane Austen Book Club. The idea is, of course, to share their ideas on the British author's work : but the members' lives are as full as marriage trouble, affairs and love problems in general as any of Austen's novels...
synopsis allocine.co.uk
The Jane Austen Book Club is one of those movies you like to watch with friends to have a good time and just relax.
The movie in itself is well done, we get into the story quite easily, the characters are attractive we believe in their story and we feel sorry for them or sympathize with them because their problems could happen or have happened to us, it’s not unreal.
Then the book club start, not very easily because not all of them want to join it at first. This book club as the title of the movie says is going to be about Jane Austen. I personally have never read Jane Austen so I won’t say anything about how the books have been interpreted or anything such as that. But I like the fact that every character find his/her own story, his/her own problems in the books and those books help his/her to solve the problem. Like for Prudie and her husband who find themselves again thanks to Persuasion. And Grigg who try to seduce Jocelyn though the books.
To be honest I have to say I wouldn’t have watched this movie if Emily Blunt wasn’t on it. But now that I’ve watched it I don’t regret it. It’s not a movie that will be remember, but if you feel depressed, or sad, or even if you feel fine and just want to have a good time with friends I’ll say this movie is for you. It’s a great movie to watch with friends, I think friends make it even better !
When you’ll watch it, you will have fun, you’ll feel sorry for the character, you’ll get into the story and in the end of the movie you’ll feel good like you had a good time and that everything around you seems fine. You’ll even want to start a book club like this one because it’s sounds really fun !*
I can't say anything about the original novel by Karen Joy Fowler since I haven't read it. If I read it, I'll tell you what I think of it for itself and compare to the movie.
To end, here a few review from the press :
"Muddles along fine in a sentimental, mainstream way. By constantly referencing Austen's sharp wit this can only ever come up short in comparison." Anna Smith (Time out)
" Chick-flick veteran Robin Swicord has such assured control of her material, while the women, including Maria Bello as an emotionally reticent dog breeder and Amy Brenneman as a betrayed housewife, are so seemingly at ease in their roles that the movie drifts towards its happy-ever-after finale without a missed beat. " Kevin Maher (Times on Line)
" If it sounds contrived, it is ? a consequence of a script built around a rigidly schematic conceit and bland protagonists whose romantic hassles Jane would have probably wrapped up in a single chapter. Perhaps now they'll leave the old girl in peace. " Neil Smith (Total Film)
" If the film itself were one of its characeters, it would be Grigg: a beguiling mixture of pragmatism and enthusiasm, it is strangely disarming in its lack of pretension, albeit a little clumsy. Fair enough, its commercial aspirations are as blatant as the product-placement slots that proliferate throughout, but it also offers a canny defence of film interpretation." Catherine Wheatley (Sight and sound)