The opening montage in this fabulous movie vividly conveys the hurry-scurry nature our lives: rushing about while talking on our cell phones, losing parking spaces to sneaky drivers, loading groceries into the car while our children pester us, missing an elevator, exploding in anger when a machine rejects our credit card or doesn't dispense some treat we've selected. Although we all like to think that we are staying connected to others through our technological toys, many of us are starved for face-to-face community in our virtual world. And the pandemic excuse is always the same: we don't have enough time.
Bernadette (Kathy Baker) lives in Sacramento and loves variety: now in her mid-50s, she has been married six times and is having the time of her life living alone. She comes up with the idea of a Jane Austen Book Club. She meets Prudie (Emily Blunt), a lonely high school French teacher who loves Jane Austen and has read all her novels. Her marriage to Dean (Marc Blucas) has hit a rough patch; he has just cancelled a trip to Paris because of his work. At school, Prudie has fallen under the spell of Trey (Kevin Zegers), a handsome and flirtatious senior. A brief visit by her mother (Lynn Redgrave), a pot-smoking aging hippie, convinces her that she needs some new people in her life.
Bernadette's friend Jocelyn (Maria Bello) is a dog breeder who is grieving the death of Pridey, her champion Rhodesian Ridgeback. She is a strong-willed and stubborn woman who has never been married. She meets Grigg (Hugh Dancy) in an elevator at her dog breeders' convention and strikes up a conversation with him. He's a techie who has a passion for science fiction. Jocelyn has a controlling side of her which comes through when she invites Grigg to join the Jane Austen Book Club. She wants him to serve as a diversion for her longtime friend Sylvia (Amy Brenneman) whose husband Daniel (Jimmy Smits) has just walked out on her for another woman. Everybody thought their 25-year marriage was solid. Their 20ish daughter Allegra (Maggie Grace) graciously decides to move back in with her mother. Sylvia takes great comfort in her daughter's nurturing capacities but has no idea that she's become a secret lover of extreme sports such as skydiving and rock climbing. She also wonders why her lesbian daughter's intimate relationships with other women all are so brief.
Robin Swicord directs this film and has adapted Karen Joy Fowler's novel for the screen. She delivers a deliciously light and entertaining drama about people who love to read and aren’t ashamed of talking about their emotions. The members of the Jane Austen Book Club decide to read her six novels over a six-month period with each member leading one of the discussions. They find that the nineteenth century English author has plenty of insights that can be applied to contemporary friendships, marriages, sexual politics, money and class issues, social manners, self-control, second chances, and finding one's own place in the world.
It's delightful to watch these actors respond to the challenges of death, separation, loneliness, and longing. But it is even more pleasurable to see them make the most of the community they build over a six-month period. Emily Blunt steals the movie with her stellar performance as Prudie, the only one in the club who considers herself a true Janeite, but we also loved Kathy Baker's Bernadette and Maria Bello's Jocelyn.
