The Jane Austen Book Club

Having transferred all of Jane Austen's novels to the screen (many of them numerous times), filmmakers have begun exploring more imaginative means of appealing to the beloved writer's fan base (see review of Becoming Jane in this issue). Filmmaker Robin Swicord's adaptation of Karen Joy Fowler's titular novel revolves around six members of a contemporary California book group, who not only read Austen's books, but whose lives also mirror the novels' lessons. Unfortunately, this doesn't come close to matching the style and wit of the originals—or of the film and miniseries adaptations. The members, who meet once a month, include the serial divorcee organizer (Kathy Baker); a single woman (Maria Bellow) more at home with animals than people; a wife (Amy Brenneman) down in the dumps after being left by her husband, her risk-taking lesbian daughter (Maggie Grace), a high school French teacher (Emily Blunt) dissatisfied with her hubby and now interested in a hunky student, and a token male (Hugh Dancy) who is a young retired software mogul. It would be tedious to catalogue the ways in which the characters interact—the point here, of course, is that Austen's universal truths about human relationships are in fact timeless. A forced combination of melodrama, romance, and comedy, this is not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a cast and crew audio commentary, a 21-minute featurette on “The Life of Jane Austen,” a 19-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, “The Book Club: Deconstructed” featurette (12 min.), seven deleted scenes (7 min.), three minutes of footage from the film's L.A. premiere, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a so-so film.] (F. Swietek)