Book Club (2018) Poster

(I) (2018)

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6/10
Wow, Some People Really Hated This Movie
koconnell-3721219 May 2019
I would watch it just for the actors, and I did, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's meant to be fun and it is. It's inspiring. The women look fabulous. Garcia, who I never really liked much, I liked a lot in this movie. This movie says, "You're old, so what? You're not too old to do something fun."
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7/10
It was cute
heydiddlediddle00715 February 2019
I didn't expect much from this movie but really was pleasantly surprised. Of course it wasn't a mystery what would happen but it was nice seeing successful women that age falling in love. I loved seeing Andy Garcia in this movie!!
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5/10
If This Were a Graph It Would Be a Straight Line
ice ruby red9 September 2018
With such a stellar cast of favorites from my own generation, I expected this movie to be enjoyable. It wasn't! It was like watching an operation where the patient flatlines. I kept looking at the clock and wishing it was over.

I just adore Jane Fonda, and her show Grace & Frankie is one that I always find funny and unpredictable, and that I can hardly wait for the next episode of. Unfortunately, such was not the case with Book Club. There was nothing fresh or exciting about it in the least. I wonder if it was written in a hurry, or by a novice. I am not hard to please when it comes to movies; it has to be really dull for me to want it to hurry up and end. A lot of people said they laughed all thru it; makes me wonder if they have been living in a cave where they had few opportunities to watch a film.

The only redeeming aspect of this film, for me, was getting to see Fonda, Bergen, Keaton, Garcia, and Don Johnson (holy shades of pastel, he's aged well!); It's not their fault that the story was about as interesting as a trip to the grocery store.
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It only took 10 Minutes
billieabbott22 September 2018
Yep, that's all it took for my partner and I to stop watching this movie. For the life of me I don't know why such talented actresses would agree to appear in such a crass, mindless, stupid movie. My partner (male) said it was for the Money, I (female) said they don't need the money. Would you ever catch Judi Dench or Meryl Streep appearing on the screen in such a useless film. I have always loved Diane Keaton, and Jane Fonda, how could they be so disappointing. Are they actually unintelligent?
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6/10
A sweet, group romantic comedy
smatysia12 June 2019
A sweet, group romantic comedy, with an all-star cast. The cast are all Very accomplished actors and actresses, and it shows. Like all rom-coms, some aspects are formulaic, but hey, what do you expect? I was particularly impressed with Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen. Not a movie I would buy, but worth a look on cable, or a Netflix rental.
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6/10
Guys point of view.
brscholl9 September 2018
From a guys point of view. Totally predictable. Enjoyed the music. Wife made me watch it.
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6/10
Enjoyable But Predictable
stevendbeard20 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I saw "Book Club", starring Diane Keaton-Love the Coopers, Mama's Boy; Jane Fonda-Grace and Frankie_tv, Fun With Dick and Jane; Candice Bergen-Rules Don't Apply, Miss Congeniality and Mary Steenburgen-The Last Man on Earth_tv, The Help. This is a comedy about 4 middle aged women that get together for their book club once a month and discover '50 Shades of Grey'. Each is in a different stage of a relationship. Diane is widowed and lets her grown, needy kids run her life-they want her to move into their basement so they can keep an eye on her, since she is 'old' and can't take care of herself. Jane is a rich hotel owner/businesswoman that doesn't need to have a steady male friend, she just uses men for sex. Candice is a judge that divorced her husband 18 years ago but can't seem to let go of her feelings for him, even when he hooks up with a 20 something plaything. And Mary, she has been married for 35 years but has not had sex with her husband in the past 6 months-since he retired. Then, '50 Shades' comes into their lives and shakes up things with each one of the ladies. All the actors are good in their roles, even the men-Don Johnson, Craig T. Nelson, Andy Garcia and Richard Dreyfus-but it was just a little predictable. I laughed at most of the situations and my wife seemed to enjoy it, too. It's rated "PG-13" for language and sexual situations-no nudity-and has a running time of 1 hour & 44 minutes. I enjoyed it but it's not one that I would buy on DVD. It would be a good rental, though.
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2/10
Like Eating Plastic Fruit
Danusha_Goska1 June 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I am the demographic for whom "Book Club" was made and I hated this movie. There's a fine line between "This is so fake swallowing it would be like swallowing plastic fruit" and "This is fake, but its artistry seduced me and I have been swept up in an alternate world thanks to my willing suspension of disbelief." "Book Club" is "eating plastic fruit" level fake.

"Book Club" stars four actresses who've been around for a while. Diane Keaton and Candice Bergen are both 72, Jane Fonda is 80, and Mary Steenburgen is 65. Steenburgen and Bergen both look like mature women you might meet in real life. Rich enough to be well taken care of, but not unreal.

Diane Keaton is clinging to her la dee da Annie Hall flibbertigibbet routine. I found it grating. If you've made it to 72 and you don't know how to handle life's little challenges, like making small talk with stranger on an airplane, then why should I care about you? A young woman's confusion can be endearing. An old woman's confusion suggests that she should wear one of those "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up" alarm systems.

Jane Fonda has clearly signed a pact with the devil. Either that or her various beauty regimens, which have ranged, over the years, from bulimia to punishing feel-the-burn calisthenics, really do keep you young. Her eyes are huge, blue, and clear, her face is smooth, her body, clad in skin-tight clothing, is shapely. Fonda is also one heck of an actress. She brings her whole game to this silly little movie.

Everything about this movie is fake, starting from the main premise. All four of these ladies are rich, happy, successful, live in perfect homes, wear perfect clothes, and have been friends for their entire lives. They meet in person regularly and are sweetly supportive of each other. If you can find four such women, and such a friendship, in real life, I'll take back this review.

Friendships with other women are precious and rare. They don't last like this. When you've had a bad day, you don't get to phone three people you've known all your life and have them drop everything they are doing and come to your house to hold your hand and buck you up. The friendship in this movie is as unbelievable as the sex.

But then there's the unbelievable sex. Time does do things to women's bodies that make it more difficult to do the kind of things the characters in this film are shown doing. A movie that really loved women would address that.

And then there's the romance. The four stars read "Fifty Shades of Grey," a trashy hit, and decide that they are going to go out and get some love. They do, with Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, Richard Dreyfus and Craig T. Nelson.

The most unbelievable pairing is 62-year-old Andy Garcia and 72-year-old Diane Keaton. Garcia plays a pilot and self-made millionaire who owns a home looking out on the magnificent rock formations of Sedona, Arizona. For no discernable reason, he falls in love with Diane Keaton, who plays a woman so flakey she can't make conversation without a pratfall. If you believe their love story, I have a bridge I can sell you.

Old age has its gifts that youth cannot provide. Why not make a movie that capitalizes on that? Women who realize that they have nothing to lose and are suddenly freed up to be outspoken, not to hide their intelligence, as Keaton insists on doing, and who are no longer bedroom athletes but can offer wit and depth? I'd go see that movie. Heck, I was desperate enough to go see this one.
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8/10
Most laughs I've had in a long time
grannyjanetra19 May 2018
Some of these bad reviews here must be humorless sad sacks who find little joy in life. I found this a delightful way to spend part of an afternoon with a friend! It was what I expected from trailer, nothing more, nothing less. I go to a movie to be entertained, not to pick apart everyone's physical attributes. Lighten up, have fun, enjoy the music.
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7/10
Enjoyable, simple movie
davispittman18 May 2018
Book Club is a film that won't win any major awards and it won't be one of the years greatest, but if you can sit down and enjoy it for what it is, then I think you'll like it.

It stars Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenbergen. The supporting cast includes Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, Richard Dreyfuss, and Alicia Silverstone. So obviously we have a good bit of talent here. And I'll say that I definitely enjoyed the cast and I thought they all did a great job, no one phoned in it. That really is this films biggest positive, the cast. The actors have a really good chemistry that flows well, they're all just such talented people. If the cast had been full of other leads I don't think I would've liked the film at all. The script could have been better, not gonna lie. The material the cast had to work with wasn't great, but they made it work.

There are funny moments and I give the writers credit for that, but if I'm being honest it was the cast that made those moments funny. There were serious moments too of course, and they worked overall, maybe a tad too cheesy at times but I was expecting the stereotypical stuff to an extent. I'll say that overall I did have a good time with Book Club, it is not great or monumental, but if you're looking for a movie to sit back with a glass of wine and just enjoy, then I'd suggest this. And even though yes it might've been stereotypical to do, I loved seeing all these older women find love again.
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1/10
I tried ,I really did
moulindebarre26 May 2020
This was embarrassing. I wondered to my husband who endured it with me ,was I such a cynical old biatch who couldn't appreciate this film? After the turquoise titles right off the bat I was worried. Maybe a good script could have saved it.1 hour 45 mins I'll never get back.
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8/10
A burst-out-laughing movie!
carolarugg18 May 2018
Candice Bergen stole the show! The movie provided several opportunities for soda to squirt out your nose! The music was really good, but esp the Meat Ball song coordinated with the dance scene. Glad Nelson got out of his tiresome funk. Would have loved more Dreyfus---w/ Candice. They were honestly adorable. And lastly, I wanted to put Garcia in my purse and bring him home! Cute cute cute. Lucky Keaton. Lucky lucky lucky.
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7/10
Minor but enjoyable
preppy-318 May 2018
Four middle-aged women have a book club that meets once a month to discuss a book. They read Fifty Shades of Grey and they decide to explore their sexual sides. Diane Keaton is a widow who meets a great guy (Andy Garcia) but her adult children control her. Jane Fonda uses men for sex only until she meets an old flame (Don Johnson). Candice Bergen can't seem to let go of her husband who divorced her 18 years ago. Mary Steenburgen has been happily married for 35 years...but they don't have sex anymore.

Basically this is a PG-13 Lifetime movie with a stellar cast. For what it is its not bad. I laughed long and hard more than once and the cast was great in their roles. All the stories had predictable but satisfying outcomes. Worth seeing but wait for it on TV.
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1/10
Ouch
BlueLightAlarm24 May 2018
Corny jokes, terrible script and sub-par acting from these ladies who can do better
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Totally unrealistic
eileenbourne-8774012 September 2018
Would a rich, good looking pilot who owns his own mansion with a pool and also has his own plane be living there alone ? The pilot played by Andy Garcia aged 62 then falls for Diane Keaton aged 72. Never ! Only in a fantasy world. The pilot would have had a younger woman as a girlfriend. Not over 40, I would imagine. Same goes for Don Johnson's character. Don is a young looking 68. Would he go looking for an old girlfriend played by Jane Fonda aged 80 ? Not in a million years ! The music was good.
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7/10
The daughters are terrible!
mango-5706124 April 2019
This movie is a good romantic comedy. However, Diane's daughters are so damn annoying! Their whining and controlling behavior ruined the movie for me. Why Diane is even listening to them makes no sense. Alicia Silverstone needs better roles.
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6/10
I enjoyed this film!
rey631-395-1924253 August 2018
Funny movie with a great cast. Enjoy the movie without taking it too serious. I think Keaton's character truly shows the struggle an aging parent goes through when trying to balance family with a new life in your later years.
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7/10
I loved it
petkovska_jovana28 August 2018
It was such a nice movie that kept me entertained the entire time and that's exactly what i was looking for, to relax and laugh! What's up with all those bad reviews and judgments?! Maybe you all dark souls need friends in your life so you get to enjoy more instead of spreading evilness online.
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1/10
Awful. Just awful.
mailes229 September 2018
Husband and I are in the target demographic for this movie. He went home after 45 minutes. The basic premise of the movie is bad from the get-go: 4 intelligent lifelong friends meet every month for book club, read 50 Shades of Grey, are enthralled and titillated, and it changes their attitudes to love. Since no intelligent woman was ever enthralled by 50 Shades of Grey, which is badly written soft porn at best, you've got to suspend a lot of disbelief right there.

Then we've got Diane Keaton. She can't act. She REALLY can't act. I'm not sure she could ever really act, but she definitely hasn't put in a decent performance since Something's Gotta Give, when the plot allowed her to do the same schtick she always does, and get away with it. And then there's her clothes. When an actor's clothes become a distraction from the movie, you know that things are going downhill rapidly. Diane Keaton has been wearing the same pants, jacket, shirt and scarf wrapped around her neck for half a century now. In every movie and in her everyday life. If she's that self conscious about a saggy neck, she needs to go see a plastic surgeon and then send all those scarves to clothe a small developing nation somewhere. Possibly a large one. And why on earth would someone be wearing a felt hat when floating on an inflatable swan in a swimming pool at NIGHT? She even gets to wear that wretched beret of hers in one scene.

Jane Fonda is awful in this too. She can still act when she's got good material and a good director and not too big a part (e.g. The Newsroom), but when the material and the direction is pretty rubbish, so too is her exaggerated performance (Grace and Frankie).

Mary Steenbergen plays the same sweet ditzy character she's always played (Back to the Future III anyone?) Never been a very good actress and she's getting too long in the tooth now to pull it off. She puts in another mediocre performance here, again not helped by appalling dialogue.

I was looking forward to seeing Candice Bergen on the screen again, as she's been gone a long time. She puts in an ok performance, but the dialogue is woeful and she's not good enough to lift it.

I thought maybe this movie would be something a little bit like the Jane Austen Book Club, which had a tight script, good storylines about interesting female characters and was well acted. I was very, very wrong.
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8/10
Two Words - Andy Garcia!
cmn82518 May 2018
Fun, fun, fun movie - I'm going to see it again. So many laugh-out-loud moments. I would have loved to see more of Candice Bergen (a favorite!) and Richard Dreyfuss. Nevertheless I enjoyed the entire cast, movie and especially the music!
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7/10
Book Club (2018)
rockman18218 May 2018
Book Club

Oddly enough I was pretty hyped for Book Club. Seeing some of the great actresses of decades ago working together for a romantic comedy? I was in. Especially since I think Mary Steenburgen is super HOT. She is aging so gracefully, and I'm ready to argue with anyone who disagrees. Anyways I thought the film was as expected. its sweet has characters to like, and can be enjoyed by younger and older crowds alike.

The film is about for women in a book club and how their romantic lives become influenced by the books they read. They decide to read Fifty Shades of Grey and they try to incorporate what they read in the book to their romantic lives. Of course, there are bumps in the road for each of the four ladies' relationships and they need to collaborate and explore how they can make things work. Apart from Super hot Mary, the film also stars Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, and Candice Bergen.

The reading of the Fifty Shades series or even having the book club isn't completely necessary. The film is about the ladies' relationships and it could survive without the club or the books. Not all of the romance arcs are as interesting as the others but the actresses make it work. The humor is timely and comes at good times. There a few sexual references but overall the film is safe and sweet.

This is overall a very simple film that does not have a whole lot going on. The plot is supplemented by a good cast who make the film a charming experience. I was just happy to see the likes of Keaton, Fonda, and Steenburgen working together even if it came decades after they were ever present in Hollywood. Perfect film to just sit and enjoy with a glass of wine.

6.5/10
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1/10
A comedy?
lesley-227 August 2018
I scrolled down the user reviews for this film in disbelief. Most laughs. Laugh out loud. Most enjoyable.

Where did my sense of humour go? This film is a waste of time, predictable, embarrassing, superficial and a moronic misuse of the talents of what I thought were good actresses. Except for Diane Keaton. She has been doing this stereotype for so long now that I should have known to avoid this film.

Ah well, I suppose there is an audience out there who enjoys superficial twaddle.
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9/10
Laughed my a$$ off
Kenkeller-98-62055321 May 2018
I am no fan of Jane Fonda so I went to this movie today with a sense of obligation to take my wife who really wanted to see it. I was going to tolerate Jane and enjoy the others.

The acting was great. Individually and otherwise.

The four ladies were terrific together and in their scenes with their male partners, were even better.

While the movie is a comedy it covers some serious topics not often discussed in the final quarter of life; losing a spouse, a retirement not planned out, ED, children who want to parent their parents, dating.

I'd recommend this movie to anyone fifty or older.
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7/10
four older women re-discover sex
blanche-212 September 2018
Wow, a movie where four older women have leads.

This is a story of four women of a certain age who have a book club. The hot, sexy hotel owner Vivian (Jane Fonda) decides they will all read "Fifty Shades of Gray," though the rest of the women (Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen, Diane Keaton) object.

They soon find themselves glued to the book and going for a semblance of a love life. Carol (Steenburgen) tries to get her husband (Craig Nelson) interested again; Sharon (Bergen), a federal judge, tries online dating, and Diane (Keaton) flirts with a man (Andy Garcia) on a plane. In the meantime, an old love (Don Johnson) comes into Vivian's life - she resists because she's afraid of being hurt.

Lots of laugh out loud moments in this film as well as poignant ones, with Fonda, at the age of 80, outrageously gorgeous and Bergen having the funniest role.

The moral of the story is, it's never too late. If you don't want to be put out to pasture, then don't go. And looking at Fonda, I guess 80 is the new 50.
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1/10
Horrible movie ...
mboboc10 May 2019
I started watching this movie because I like the actresses playing the main characters ... I could not finish it, sadly. Diane Keaton's character is so removed from any reality of a woman her age that she may very well performed this role in a sci-fi movie (that may have been better than this one).
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