BOOK CLUB--THE FIRST CHAPTER

Book Club--The First Chapter works. Finally a film about gutsy women, but Italy is its star.  Stunning photography of Venice and Rome’s splendor   Four beautiful women celebrate their senior years and make them fun, sexy, and raucous. It's worth seeing Jane Fonda, who can steal a scene when she wants to, Candice Bergen, whose acting is perhaps the best, Mary Steenbergen who has a natural delivery which is incomparable, and Diane Keaton who is her usual charming self with her usual hat and usual glasses, and la de da manner, but I wish she would stop hiding her natural beauty behind props.  Nevertheless these women work together and their unity makes a strong film when the writing doesn’t make it silly and forced  Writing is weak in spots especially in the dull beginning. 

Once the women arrive in Italy, the film begins to sail.  Don Johnson has a small part but, of course, is competent, and handsome, but wearing makeup that is reminiscent of Donald Trump. Too much bronzer, baby, too much!   Andy Garcia, Craig T. Nelson, and Giancarlo Giannini are the backdrop for these women with balls who command these men with their assertiveness and cunning.  This feminist dominance is the great strength of Book Club, The First Chapter.  It is about women who do not need men, but appreciate male charms when it is convenient for them, but do not need a stud to feel whole. This is not just another silly girlie comedy like the horrific 80 for Brady, but a serious romantic comedy about the importance of independent women. The ending which is predictable is the asterisk addressing this point as the film could almost be the biography of Jane Fonda, but due to the stellar direction of Bill Holderman, this film works!

Hugh Quarshie, the black male star whom I had never heard of, almost steals the show when he sings Gloria at an Italian dinner for the women bachelorettes. He is handsome beyond belief and sings with genuine sensuality.  We must see more of him. 

Sometimes Fonda’s acting is a bit carved out or stiff.  But when she lets herself go she sails above all the others. The writing is the problem.  Sometimes corny, but when it is funny, it is funny. Book Club The First Chapter is a film the world needs to see.  It addresses marriage and its folly juxtaposed against marriage and it’s joy  I recommend the film. And  God bless Jane Fonda who at 85 is walking and moving like a goddess though she has had cancer, hip surgery, knee surgery and we all know about her facial surgery because she’s so honest and bless her for it. She is a warrior and this film is about warrior women! Do try to see it!

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