The super titas of Hollywood

Film review: Book Club

MANILA, Philippines — Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Diane Keaton and Mary Steenburgen — four names, four actresses and four lifetimes of amazing cinematic performances and roles that will be remembered for a long, long time. So putting the four in one film, acting together for the very first time, would be a senior citizen casting coup; and that’s what Reality Entertainment’s Book Club does in an endearing romantic comedy.

The four play dear friends who have stuck together for decades, meeting on a regular basis as a private Book Club. Fonda plays a hotel owner who’s always been afraid of commitment; while Bergen’s character is a federal judge who still hasn’t really gotten over her divorce of 18 years ago. Keaton’s role is that of a recently-widowed mom, whose two daughters are constantly looking out for her to a fault. Steenburgen portrays a married woman, who hasn’t shared intimacy with her husband for some time now. Their libido and sense of satisfaction in life reach conflict point after the novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, is made their Club’s Book of the Month.

It’s a lightweight screenplay that pokes fun at post-midlife crisis, at Viagra, at the needs and wants of over-60 women, and maintains an even pace that doesn’t put a wrong foot anywhere. If I have a problem with the film, it would be that given the stature and acting chops of the four, we don’t really push them at all. The four are basically playing roles they’ve done in the past, and it isn’t much of a challenge. You can imagine them doing these roles in their sleep, going at it on cruise control.

Also of note from a nostalgia angle is how the leading men in the film include Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, Richard Dreyfuss and Craig T. Nelson. They’re asked to play “straight men” to the four, and are obviously having fun. 

This is one great Titas of Manila film outing, or a film you can take your mother to, and be assured she’ll enjoy and laugh at the right places. There is just the element of how, given these four actresses can really deliver, they’re not asked to do all that much. But for a light romp, it delivers; and if only as an excuse to bring these four back onscreen, the film gets my salute.