Book Club :The Next Chapter

Released in 2018, Book Club was a modest hit and introduced book lovers Vivian (Jane Fonda), Diane (Diane Keaton), Sharon (Candice Bergen) and Carol (Mary Steenburgen) whose lives were changed forever after reading Fifty Shades of Grey.

Any quick follow up was stuffed by Covid which is nicely encapsulated in the first sequence of the The Next Chapter with the ladies keeping in touch online. It’s a promising start that unfortunately isn’t sustained for the rest of the film.

From there the film fumbles its way through Italy for Vivian’s hen/bachelorette holiday, before she marries Arthur (Don Johnson) through Rome, Venice and into Tuscany the only way the well-off can. The film pretty much runs on the vapours of weak gags interspersed with bouts of purple prose that have the depth of puddle.

This all sounds and looks very familiar and it feels like production line filmmaking with the main cast phoning it in. Though that isn’t quite the case and the frustrating point is that none of them are actually bad, the four leads are great fun, with some solid backup from the rest of the cast, just let down by a well-worn formula. As is generally the case with these types of film, there’s a running gag with the Italian police which is just about bearable thanks to the good nature and natural timing of Giancarlo Giannini.

Similarly, without giving too much of a spoiler what could have been something of a blow against convention has to be balanced with convention. And when director Bill Holderman and co-writer Erin Simms try to push the boat its tired references to genitalia. When they have the opportunity to actually make a point, when the women are in a museum looking at classical nudes, they bottle it for a limp (sic) joke about it being cold.

Book Club: The Next Chapter is in cinemas now.