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Strong Cast Is The Spine Of This 'Book'

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By PAULA NECHAK Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Published: October 5, 2007

What would Jane do? That's the mantra that resounds through director Robin Swicord's chick-lit look at a group of five women (and one guy) who, besieged by modern-day traffic, smog, dead cell phones, crashed computers and unfaithful spouses, turn to Jane Austen for solace.

Swicord is no stranger to literary adaptation; in addition to this script based on Karen Joy Fowler's novel, she has written the screenplays for 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' 'Matilda' and the 1995 version of 'Little Women' - and she makes her directing debut with 'The Jane Austen Book Club.' She has enough savvy to conjure up a terrific cast that compensates for her rote direction.

These six suburbanite Californians include New Age den mother Bernadette (Kathy Baker); Jocelyn (Maria Bello), who loves dogs more than people; Sylvia (Amy Brenneman), whose husband (Jimmy Smits) has just announced he's in love with someone else; their daughter, Allegra (Maggie Grace), a lesbian who dabbles in daredevil acts; newcomer Prudie (Emily Blunt), a high-strung high school French teacher struggling in a bad marriage; and Grigg (Hugh Dancy), a software mogul who thinks 'Austen is in Texas.'

As each of the six lay siege to Austen's six novels, their lives slowly begin to mirror those of her characters. With such a panorama of people continually making reference to Austen, it's no wonder the film feels incidental and slight. It would take hours to access the depths of detail that make up the complicated society of Austen's world.

Still, the actors are good - especially Bello, Blunt (who makes Prudie a heartbreak of shrill, unfulfilled dreams and desires) and Dancy.

MOVIE REVIEW

The Jane Austen Book Club

MOVIE BOARD RATING: PG-13 (profanity, sexual content)

STARS: Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Hugh Dancy, Emily Blunt, Jimmy Smits, Amy Brenneman
DIRECTOR: Robin Swicord

LOCATION: See movie times, Page 8, for local showtimes.

PLOT SUMMARY: Modern life imitates 19th century art for California book clubbers.

RUNNING TIME: 105 minutes

ON THE WEB: sonyclassics.

com/thejaneaustenbookclub

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