The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

A tap root into the subterranean strata of popularity in (1) Jane Austen and (2) "Sex and the City", both apparently having peaked at about the same time as this film was released. I'll bet Jane Austen never wrote such a clumsy sentence as the one I just finished writing. Five women -- all in varying degrees of domestic distress -- discover that they have a common interest in Jane Austen's novels and form a club to discuss them one at a time. They even invite a guy who pretty much holds his own. There are rough parallels between Austen's plots and the romantic careers of the club's members. I'll have to assume the parallels are there because they've been so often alluded to. I've never read any of the books. I've seen most of the available film versions but the characters and narratives are similar enough that I get them mixed up, just as I do with Dickens.You'll probably enjoy it more if you're already an Austen fan because some of the comments that crop up during the club meetings sound as if they make sense, although it may be going too far to suggest that the separation of eggs in the preparation of flan is symbolic of the divorce of somebody's parents. None of the performances really stand out but Emily Blunt is always oddly appealing and Maria Bello is precisely emotional enough.

Whilst I haven't read Jane Austen herself I have read the novel on which this movie is based and for me the movie started badly by ramming the present day down our throats, possibly in a misguided attempt to point up the contrast between our modern world and the world of Jane Austen. In the novel, although it was clearly set in the present day there was still the feeling of being cocooned in a time-warp from virtually the first page. Eventually the spell woven by the book does permeate through to the film but a good three or four reels is wasted before this happens. There's some fine ensemble acting but though Emily Blunt is excellent she is light years away from the Prudie in the novel, as is Hugh Dancy as Griggs. Having said that the film, overall, is enjoyable and worth seeing.

I don't know if this is one of the best films I have seen. But this is certainly one of the most intelligent. films based on books (and I'm referring to Austen books, I didn't read the novel it's based upon) tend to be irritating, often insulting the original books and the intelligence of their readers. when the film tries to stay "loyal", in many occasions it is nothing but a poor shadow of the original book.This film is nothing of this sort. Those who made it really loved and understood Jane Austen (and literature in general). Anyone of admires her books will find in this movie lots to think about. And still, it is also a movie, with beautiful and interesting characters, none of them is made ridiculous or flat.Small movie, but worth every second of watching.

Despite the fact that all the protagonists are incredibly lovely, the movie begins grounded in reality. Nothing works, everything is broken. And then, like the best Jane Austen fare, it descends into a realm where men are sensitive and fairy tales do come true.This movie has fantasy men for all.First, the incredibly handsome and charming science-fiction nerd will stop at nothing to win the heart of a woman who has really not given him much to work with. But don't we all wish that there were wonderful men suitably devoted and persistent? In real life, it's usually a sort of weird guy who is hopelessly awkward and won't take a hint (if it's anyone at all).Then the husband who runs off with another woman... only to see his ex-wife at opportune moments (while she are lunching with an incredibly attractive man, for instance). A husband who comes back for her, even more in love with her than before. Every woman who's just been dumped for the secretary wants her husband to see the error of his way, to be sensitive enough to write her a letter about how flawed his choice was...In short, it is a Jane Austen book all of its own, with some piece of true love for everybody.