Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Book Club Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 22, 2018

Here's a novel concept: a book club actually reading a book. So often it seems, from first- and second-hand knowledge, various book clubs, perhaps even meeting with the best of intentions, invariably devolve into gossip groups and wine tasting escapes. That's obviously not the case with each one, so those readers in honest-to-goodness reading book clubs...calm down. Director Bill Holderman's Book Club focuses on a few women who, wow!, actually read the book assigned. And they gossip and sip wine, too. The best of both worlds! And when the club its comprised of a foursome of golden gals stimulated by Christian Gray's ab muscles and absolute fortune, maybe it's not a surprise the ladies devoured the material. The book puts the group a little more at ease when discussing their relationships, opening them to new possibilities that aren't necessarily directly inspired by the novel's depictions of bondage and more unusual sex acts. There book is instead a stimulus for them to find their own place in the sex-at-old-age game.

The Foursome.

Four friends -- a wealthy hotel magnate named Vivian (Jane Fonda), a federal judge named Sharon (Candice Bergen), a restaurateur named Carol (Mary Steenburgen), and a widowed mother of two named Diane (Diane Keaton) -- have enjoyed one another's company over several decades and come together every month for their book club discussions. Their latest book, chosen by Vivan, is E. L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey, the super popular novel that took the world by storm and was made into a major motion picture. The book's reputation leaves the group hesitant, but they've never dismissed a read before and they're not about to now. As the four pour through the book, they find themselves drawn to its wild fantasies and begin to explore opportunities in their own love lives: Vivan struggles with the possibility of reconnecting with old flame Arthur (Don Johnson). Sharon tries online dating and meets George (Richard Dreyfuss). Carol desperately wants to sexually reconnect with her husband Bruce (Craig T. Nelson). Diane falls for an airline pilot (Andy Garcia).

The book is simply a propellant, a platform, to entice the ladies into rediscovering their love lives. While they find the bondage and other unusual sex play in the book stimulating, their draw to it, and the men in their lives, is not quite so carnal, at least not entirely. They experience an emotional response to the possibilities of rekindling their love lives, which for them extends beyond the physical but certainly includes frustrations from a lack of sexual expression. The film follows the ladies' pursuits as they clandestinely (Sharon's online dating, Diane's secret relationship with Mitchell) or more openly (Carol's frustrations with her husband's apparent lack of sex drive) evolve their love lives over the course of the film, which covers the months they read the original novel as well as the pair of sequels.

The film is blessed with a talented cast but it's not blessed with a script that challenges them to explore any aspect of their lives with any interesting or new-angle depth. Many of the characters' comings and goings feel artificial and superficial, failing to dig all that deeply into their psyches even as the book, in a roundabout way but more their newfound willingness to explore and try new things, has changed their outlook on, and approach to, life. It feels contrived and hackneyed with each character a certain kind of unique who can, in her own way, find a new lease on life through the months the club reads the books. Charm makes the occasional appearance and humor arrives intermittently (notably as Bruce spits out innuendo after innuendo when he's discussing the process of fixing up his motorcycle), and those moments at least elevate the film from flatness. But it's predominantly a slow, tedious picture for which the A-list cast works hard to elevate, but mere presence alone cannot ascend mediocre material above the modest draw of the foundational concept.

Book Club Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Book Club is soft, lightly diffuse, and presents with a very deliberate appearance. Resultantly, it's not entirely 1080p reference material, but the picture quality holds true enough and presents the material well enough under the stylistic approach. Details remain adequately complex even through the mild push to soft. Character skin textures are pleasantly complex, revealing all of the aging and the makeup attempting to cover some of it up. Clothes and environments are crisp and the picture maintains an agreeable clarity throughout, only sometimes obscured by some of the more heavy-handed diffusion. Colors push slightly soft and pastel, too, but there's enough bounce and punch to saturate the most intense greens and reds and compliment all of the clothes and support accents throughout the movie. Noise is minimal and additional artifacts are essentially absent.

Book Club Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Book Club's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack delivers somewhat shallow dialogue and music. The entire track lacks volume at normal listening levels, and as with recent Disney tracks (this is a Paramount release), elevating the volume largely alleviates the problem. With minimal bass, whatever low extension may be there or may be lacking is never an issue as it might be for a comic book film. Fortunately a higher volume delivers a pleasing enough listen, with well defined though mostly front-heavy music and modest ambient effects. The track's needs are few outside of dialogue, which once adjusted for volume plays just fine with agreeable front-center positioning.

Book Club Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Book Club's Blu-ray release contains more than an hour's worth of featurettes and deleted scenes. A DVD copy of the film and an iTunes digital copy code are included with purchase. The release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• It All Started with a Book (1080p, 10:56): Writer/Producer Erin Simms and Writer/Director/Producer Bill Holderman discuss the real-life influences that shaped the script, an E.L. James cameo, the script's and the production's history, Holderman's direction (on which the cast comments), and more.
• Casting Book Club (1080p, 13:43): As the title suggests, this piece looks at the ensemble that's assembled for the film.
• Location, Location, Location (1080p, 9:48): Setting and shooting the film in Los Angeles.
• A New Chapter (1080p, 9:03): Cast and crew discuss what makes the film realistic and a celebration of life at any stage.
• Living in the Moment (1080p, 3:48): Katharine McPhee discusses the song she performs for the film's end credits.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 11:11): A large number of deleted, extended, and alternate scenes. Included are Diane and the TSA - Deleted, Sharon Still Reads - Alternate, Pre-Date Nerves - Extended, Vivian and Mitchell at the Bar - Deleted, Let's Grab Dinner - Deleted, The Gift - Deleted, The Morning After - Deleted, Diane Makes Love - Alternate, Diane Accepts Her Fate - Deleted, Vivian on the Move - Extended, Sharon at the Engagement Party - Extended, Bruce and Carol Ride On - Extended, and Ginsburg Is Pregnant - Deleted.

Book Club Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Book Club joins The Jane Austen Book Club as a lighter-side look at literature through the eyes of the individuals reading the works. James' novel is a springboard for discussion and getting the girls out of various personal ruts and sexual frustrations. The film is a celebration of life and living it at every age rather than a further exploration of the fantasies depicted in Fifty Shades of Grey. Unfortunately, the picture is slow and filled with repetitive character moments and unimaginative angles, and even a super-talented cast can't elevate it very far above the midline. That said, this is a film written and made for a specific audience, and readers will likely know if they're part of it. Paramount's Blu-ray delivers good video, decent audio, and a healthy allotment of extras. Worth a rental.