The Jane Austen Book Club

In California, five women and one man form a club to read Jane Austen's six novels over six months. One book a month, and in every book something that lands on someone's own life. The film is not interested in literary discussion. It is interested in reading as a pretext: nobody talking about Austen is actually talking about Austen. Its structure rests on that parallel. The form is ensemble comedy: six stories in rotation, short scenes, a light tone. The source is Karen Joy Fowler's novel, adapted and directed by Robin Swicord, who had written screen adaptations including Little Women and Memoirs of a Geisha, so literary adaptation is her home ground. Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman and Hugh Dancy are in the cast. Who it is for: Austen readers and anyone who likes light relationship comedy. Who it is not for: viewers wanting depth. Split six ways, the film cannot give any strand enough room and most of its problems resolve too easily.