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The Jane Austen Book Club Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic material, sexual content, brief strong language and some drug use) Genre: Drama, Romance Theater release: September 14, 2007 by Sony Pictures Classics Directed by: Robin Swicord Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes Cast: Maria Bello (Jocelyn), Amy Brenneman (Sylvia), Kathy Baker (Bernadette), Emily Blunt (Prudie), Maggie Grace (Allegra), Hugh Dancy (Grigg), Jimmy Smits (Daniel), Mark Blucas (Dean), Kevin Zegers (Trey), Parisa Fitz-Henley (Corinne) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

First there was the Summer of the Three-quel (Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Shrek the Third, Ocean's 13, Bourne). Now we seem to be in the Autumn of Jane Austen. Last month brought us Becoming Jane, and now we have The Jane Austen Book Club. Perhaps next month Austen will strike back or take on the Bronte sisters in a boxing match.

This installment in the Autumn of Austen takes an intriguing look at the six novels that earned the British writer screen time nearly 200 years after her death. The movie is set in a modern-day book club that meets once a month to discuss each of Jane's beloved novels: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey. We get some of the dialogue about characters, plot, and Austen's well-known irony. But if you aren't familiar with all or even any of Austen's works, you won't be lost since most of the film centers on the six unlikely people who comprise these literary gatherings.

The cast (clockwise from top left) includes Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman, Hugh Dancy, Maria Bello, Maggie Grace and Emily Blunt

First there's Jocelyn (Maria Bello), a never-married 40-something dog breeder. Sylvia (Amy Brenneman), her childhood friend, is in the midst of a divorce. Their 50-something single friend Bernadette (Kathy Baker) has been married six times and serves as a combination of earth mother and den mother. These three drag Sylvia's 20-something lesbian daughter, Allegra (Maggie Grace), into the group, mainly as moral support for her mom. Bernadette invites high school French teacher Prudie (Emily Blunt) when she finds her crying over her strained marriage at an Austen fest. And Jocelyn ropes in the lone guy, Grigg (Hugh Dancy), whom she meets when her dog-breeding convention is held at the same hotel as his science fiction seminar.

In true Emma fashion, Jocelyn hopes Grigg, a 30-something bachelor, will provide a nice match for newly single Sylvia. Of course, she later comes to second-guess her matchmaking choice. In another Austen allusion, Prudie initially seems as stiff and unfriendly as Mr. Darcy. There are probably other references to Austen's works, though it's nice that they're not heavy-handed—and if even if you don't recognizing any of them, that won't detract from your enjoyment or understanding of the film.

Grigg and Jocelyn share a drink and a laugh

It's Bernadette who chooses the all-Austen angle for the book club, calling her the "perfect antidote to life." As she and the others meet in various locations to discuss the themes of love and marriage, wealth and poverty, intention and misunderstanding, we see them work out these issues in their own lives. In the six-month span of the movie, a marriage dissolves, an extra-marital flirtation heats up, someone sustains a broken wrist and a concussion, a mother dies, and a member gets married. In the midst of these discussions and life changes, we watch these characters grow—both as individuals and as friends.

The Jane Austen Book Club is based on Karen Joy Fowler's 2004 best-selling book by the same name. The movie stays mostly true to the novel, with the greatest diversion in Prudie's plotline. Instead of focusing on her relationship with her wacky mom, the film plays up her flirtation with one of her students and gives her some marriage troubles not found in the book. The latter feels unnecessary and redundant to one of the other plotlines in the movie, and in the end gets resolved a bit too quickly. The book's flashbacks are gone, with only the pertinent details woven into the real-time drama and dialogue. And Grigg of the movie is much more of a bumbling, clumsy Star Wars geek than Grigg of the novel.

Kathy Baker as Bernadette

The strength of The Jane Austen Book Club is the likeable ensemble cast. I got the sense these actors had a good time hanging out together as they filmed the movie. And because of that, I found myself wanting to climb into the empty recliner in the corner and join in the discussion. I also loved that for the most part they kept the characters from becoming caricatures. Jocelyn, our single girl, isn't a Sex and the City socialite nor a sad-sack loner. She's a strong, self-possessed woman who cares deeply for her friends and her dogs and admits that being alone isn't always easy. They easily could have played Bernadette as an eccentric, aging, marriage-happy hippie, or Sylvia as the new divorcee who comes completely unhinged or who starts prowling around for a young boy-toy. Instead these women have the nuanced and fleshed-out feel of book-inspired characters. That said, I did get a bit annoyed that nearly all the steamy scenes belong to the lesbians. These bedroom and bathtub scenes play into the over-sexed homosexual stereotype and feel rather gratuitous.

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