{"id":19491,"date":"2018-05-23T13:35:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-23T19:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=19491"},"modified":"2018-05-23T13:35:50","modified_gmt":"2018-05-23T19:35:50","slug":"book-club-exceptional-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=19491","title":{"rendered":"‘Book Club’: Exceptional Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Diane<\/a>
Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, Jane Fonda and Mary Steenburgen (left to right) play four best friends with enviable lifestyles in L.A.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

by Sandra Olmsted<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

In Book Club<\/em>, co-writer and first-time director Bill Holderman and co-writer Erin Simms capitalize on the popularity of The Shades of Grey<\/em> novels while exploring the lives of four aging, vibrant women. Bubbly humor flows through the film like the bubbly drank by stars of the film: Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Mary Steenburgen, and Candice Bergen. These four actresses, who have great chops and the veteran actors playing their love interests deliver stellar performances.<\/p>\n

In the prolong, four young women, who probably read Nine 1\/2 Weeks<\/em>, had just graduated college, and they started a book club in order to stay connected just as their lives began to pull them in different directions. Decades later, will their major life changes, epitomizing the typical problems older women face, finally pull them and their beloved book club apart?<\/p>\n

Just as the widowed Diane (played by Keaton) succumbs to her nagging, over-protective daughters\u2019 (Alicia Silverstone and Katie Aselton) demands that she move to Arizona and live in a basement \u201capartment,\u201d she meets Mitchell (Andy Garc\u00eda), a romantic airline pilot. Meanwhile, Vivian (Fonda) must contend with the one she loved and lost, Arthur (Don Johnson), reappearing in her life. For Vivian, love is an<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/a>
Andy Garcia and Diane Keaton in ‘Book Club’ (2018).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

tithetical to her life spent becoming a wealthy, powerful hotel owner and embracing casual sex.
\nAt the same time, Carol (Steenburgen) can\u2019t understand why her husband, Bruce (Craig T. Nelson) seems to be avoiding sex, which they had always enjoyed along with other activities he is also avoiding. Finally, the long-divorced Sharon (Bergen channeling Murphy Brown) gave up on love and her marriage twenty-some years ago. After her ex-husband (Ed Begley, Jr.) gets engaged, Sharon, a federal judge, decides to venture into online dating, resulting in embarrassing problems and rival beaus (Richard Dreyfuss, Wallace Shawn).<\/p>\n

\"Candice<\/a>
Candice Bergen, Ed Begley Jr., and Mircea Monroe in ‘Book Club’ (2018).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While not actually including handcuffs, whips, or much Viagra, the women\u2019s erotic and\/or romantic awakenings or re-awakenings reveal some deeper truths about the rich lives possible for older women and men. The humor, such as Carol referring to her husband\u2019s lack of interest in sex and a part of her own body as Werner Herzog\u2019s \u201cCave of Forgotten Dreams,\u201d epitomizes the quippy one-liners throughout the movie. However, the humor, although delightful, is often a little too on the nose rather than illuminating the underlying issues.<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/a>
Craig T. Nelson and Mary Steenburgen in ‘Book Club’ (2018).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Furthermore, the characters seem dated as though the women in the book club should have been reading Ingeborg Day\u2019s Nine 1\/2 Weeks<\/em> (1978) in the 1980s rather than The Shades of Grey<\/em> trilogy. The characters\u2019 motivations are sometimes trite and offer few insights into the way women age and live today, yet these would have been amazingly insightful some years ago. Still, I can recommend Book Club<\/em>, a Paramount Pictures release, as purely escapist humor for a summer outing. Rated PG-13 for sex-related material throughout, and for language and running 104 minutes, Book Club<\/em> is in theaters now.<\/p>\n

\"Jane<\/a>
Jane Fonda and Don Johnson in ‘Book Club’ (2018).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sandra Olmsted In Book Club, co-writer and first-time director Bill Holderman and co-writer Erin Simms capitalize on the popularity of The Shades of Grey novels while exploring the lives of four aging, vibrant women. Bubbly humor flows through the film like the bubbly drank by stars of the film: Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Mary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,35,9,17,21,40,25,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alton","category-blackjack-spanishlake","category-columnists","category-florissant","category-health-seniors","category-il","category-missouri","category-movie-reviews","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n'Book Club': Exceptional Stars - flovalleynews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=19491\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Book Club': Exceptional Stars - flovalleynews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Sandra Olmsted In Book Club, co-writer and first-time director Bill Holderman and co-writer Erin Simms capitalize on the popularity of The Shades of Grey novels while exploring the lives of four aging, vibrant women. 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