Starring: Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, Ed Begley Jr., Richard Dreyfus, and Wallace Shawn
Distributor: Transmission Films
Runtime: 104 mins. Reviewed in Aug 2018
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This American comedy-drama tells the story of a group of women who are members of a Book Club in Los Angeles, and who begin to reappraise their personal relationships after reading E. L. James’s “Fifty Shades of Grey”. The women first came together in the ‘70s, when their initial assignment was to read and discuss Erica Jong’s “Fear of Flying”.
The four women are best friends – Diane (Diane Keaton), Vivian (Jane Fonda), Sharon (Candice Bergen), and Carol (Mary Steenburgen) – and they have been members of the same Book Club for a very long time. They are aged between 65 and 80, and there are issues in each of their relationships with men.
Diane has been recently widowed and has grown to value her independence, which is not at all appreciated by her children. Vivian looks for what is available around her, but refuses to settle down with any one person for the same reason. Sharon is a Federal judge who has been single ever since she divorced her errant husband, Tom (Ed Begley Jr.), and she is cynically glad that he has found a younger woman at last. Carol is married to Bruce (Craig T. Nelson), but there has been no physical intimacy in their marriage since he despondently slipped into retirement.
In their Book Club, they decide to read “Fifty Shades of Grey” to be stimulated by its content, and they all decide to change their lives to search for experiences they know they have been avoiding. Diane hesitantly strikes up a relationship with Mitchell (Andy Garcia), an airline pilot. Vivian decides to spend more time with one of her previous admirers, called Arthur (Don Johnson). Sharon begins dating after divorcing Tom, and has met two men (Richard Dreyfus and Wallace Shawn) on-line. Carol looks for ways of reconciling with Bruce to get his attention, and ends up, like the others, finding what they want as the film winds to its conclusion.
Scripting for the movie is awash with observations about flagging sex drives and physical decline. It tackles the challenges of ageing by innuendo, not in an erotic way, but by humorously highlighting what is expected to happen when older persons seek intimacy and companionship. Each character represents a particular blockage in finding romance as the years have slipped by.
The movie entertains by showing four great actresses looking for insights into ageing and talking about them. They are all good comediennes. They raise smiles, which at times break into genuine laughter, and the movie is tolerably light on vulgarity.
“Fifty Shades of Grey”, is not necessary reading to be entertained by the movie. The film pointedly targets a senior audience, and the comedy routines involving the four main characters use the talents of women who have contributed great acting performances in the past. In this film, they take time off to behave comically, so that viewers can smile when age has found them.
It is a pity that a movie with such talented actresses focuses on a book which aims to titillate. The film is easy watching, but the four women deserve much better than what the film delivers. The dubious and unedifying overarching message of the film is that smart women can’t find real happiness without a man, the film vacuously describing man as “God’s gift to women”.
There are moments of dry humour in the movie’s dialogue, but the viewer learns surprisingly little, beyond the obvious, about the positive value of seeking companionship and intimacy in old age. Real-life struggles with dating didn’t need “Fifty Shades of Grey” to make the movie’s main points; and the enormous resources of four gifted actresses remain untapped. This is a light movie, and an over-sentimental one, despite what it earnestly tries to tell us about “learning to be old”.
Peter W. Sheehan is Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting
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