Jane Austin Book Club is half of a good movie. I like Jane Austen and I wanted to like this movie. It had good acting. It had more character development than you see in most movies. And I personally like movies with a lot of talking. The problem is that out of the six members of the book club, three were unlikable. Allegra is a hedonistic, self-centered woman who has trouble maintaining long term relationships. Bernadette is a supercilious know-it-all. And Prudie, the most problematic member of the club, is so neurotic and so clueless that you wince every time she opens her mouth. If you're going to put a neurotic main character in a movie, he or she needs to at least be charming enough to offset the mental issues. In an ensemble cast, it simply doesn't work to have so many unlikable characters. Another big problem I had with the movie is that the ending is right out of fantasy land. No way this is gonna happen in the real world. Still, most Jane Austen fans will probably like the film and I would recommend it to them because of the many references to her novels.
Review of The Jane Austen Book Club
