The film Book Club – The Next Chapter (Book Club – The Next Chapter in French version) will not go down in history. Even if we take pleasure in finding the four fabulous actresses Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen, the film is a series of anecdotes and sketches that follow one another without any real link between them or much imagination.
Our four friends spent the pandemic on Zoom and maintained their book club by drinking glasses of wine at a distance. Life now follows its course and, surprise! Vivian (Jane Fonda) announces that she is getting married to Arthur (Don Johnson). Why not treat yourself to the trip to Italy they’ve been putting off for ages to celebrate this great news? They decide to go there for Vivian’s bachelorette party. The four friends are therefore going to visit Rome, Venice and Florence, and live their friendship to the full… with a few small unforeseen events that are part of the trip.
The first movie bookclub, released in 2018, was much funnier than this sequel, very wisely directed by Bill Holdermann. At the time, the four friends discovered the book Fifty Shades of Grey, which served as a pretext to talk about sex and revive the intimate lives of Judge Sharon (Candice Bergen), Carol (Mary Steenburgen) and Diane (Diane Keaton). This time, the dialogues often lack flavor, just like the plot, clumsy.
The four friends are of course happy to visit Italy (we are too!), they will try on sumptuous wedding dresses, taste good wines, have a few impromptu meetings, discuss life and the time that remains, but without much emotion. Our retired judge, incredible Candice Bergen, 77, will make a great meeting and will take full advantage of her stay, even if the quartet is pursued by a police commissioner played by the excellent Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini (prize for male interpretation in Cannes in 1973).
Even if the film lacks rhythm and the screenplay isn’t up to par, the four actresses are wonderful, the landscapes sublime, just like the Italian music. But we would have liked to laugh more. This film has the merit of emphasizing the importance of female friendship and offers us a bit of advice: don’t wait until you’re 75 or 80 to organize a trip with your best friends that you’ll remember all your life!
Comedy
Book Club – The Next Chapter (Book Club – The Next Chapter)
Bill Holderman
Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen
1:47 a.m.