{"id":26462,"date":"2023-05-11T18:02:59","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T01:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=26462"},"modified":"2023-05-11T18:02:59","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T01:02:59","slug":"book-club-the-next-chapter-offers-a-few-chuckles-but-isnt-a-page-turner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=26462","title":{"rendered":"BOOK CLUB: THE NEXT CHAPTER Offers a Few Chuckles, But Isn\u2019t a Page-Turner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 107 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This movie from Focus Features opens exclusively at\ncinemas on Friday, May 12th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been a couple of comedies in recent months\nfeaturing an impressive cast of acting veterans, including Maybe I Do<\/em>\nand 80 for Brady<\/em>, both of which left this reviewer unimpressed. Arriving\njust in time for Mother\u2019s Day, the sequel Book Club: The Next Chapter<\/em> is\nanother attempt to garner laughs from legendary stars. It\u2019s genial, very nicely\nphotographed and a little stronger than the other titles mentioned in this\nparagraph, but there is only so much a great cast can do with bland material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film begins with book club members Diane (Diane Keaton),\nVivian (Jane Fonda), Carol (Mary Steenburgen) and Sharon (Candice Bergen)\nhaving endured the COVID-19 pandemic by having video chats instead of in-person\nget-togethers. Over this time, the independent Vivian announces that she has\nfinally decided to settle down and marry boyfriend Arthur (Don Johnson). With\nthe outside world improving and restrictions being lifted, the group reunite\nand decide to celebrate the upcoming nuptials with a bachelorette trip to Italy.\nAs they see the sights, they joke with each other and share ongoing concerns\nabout their relationships and living life to its fullest. But of course,\ncertain parts of the trip don\u2019t go as smoothly as hoped for and the gang find\nthemselves in a few comedic predicaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To be frank, there isn\u2019t much conflict or drama in this\nfollow-up. While the characters are still dealing with minor problems in their\npersonal lives from the first film, nothing about the story is particularly\nurgent or dramatic. Vivian feels some jitters about finally tying the knot,\nCarol worries about the health of her husband Bruce (Craig T. Nelson) after his\nstroke, Sharon is still looking for romance and everything seems, well,\ngenerally fine between Diane and Mitchell (Andy Garcia). And while there are a\nfew references to a recent book discussed in their club, even the reading\nmaterial doesn\u2019t inspire specific story material. Instead, it seems like the\ncharacters travel around Italy trying to get themselves into trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As noted, the cast are incredibly talented and do manage to\nelevate pedestrian material with a few offhanded comments and good-natured jabs\nat each other. There are a lot of bad puns and eye-rolling material, but an\noccasional funny remark (like a wedding dress shopping appointment). One\nwelcome addition is the presence of a police officer (Giancarlo Giannini), who\nappears after the ladies lose their bags and one very unusual valuable. Sharon\nand this relaxed crimefighter cross paths and butt heads on a few occasions\nthroughout the film. Giannini\u2019s low-key delivery does make for an entertaining\ncontrast between his character and the high-strung ex-judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beyond that, the only major problem introduced is jammed\ninto the proceedings near the end of the second act. It\u2019s almost as if everyone\ninvolved is primarily enjoying the scenery for the first 75 minutes. To a\ndegree this is understandable, as the backdrops are quite gorgeous. The film is\nbeautifully shot with incredible views of places like the Spanish Steps in Rome\nand the canals of Venice. At least when the screenplay doesn\u2019t create friction\nor big laughs, the scenery is eye-catching. In fact, it makes one wonder if a\ntravelog featuring the actual performers shooting the breeze at these sights\nwouldn\u2019t have made for a more entertaining flick.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, the film is sweet, looks pretty and may\nentertain some members of its target demographic. It has a couple of funny bits\nand its light tone makes the entire experience fairly innocuous. Unfortunately,\nthe screenplay struggles to create conflict, and therefore generate humor that\nmight have resulted from elaborate shenanigans or awkward situations the\ncharacters could have gotten themselves into. Ultimately, there is very little\nhere that will make a lasting impression for the average moviegoer. In the end,\nBook Club: The Next Chapter<\/em> isn\u2019t much of a page-turner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 107 minutes This movie from Focus Features opens exclusively at cinemas on Friday, May 12th. There have been a couple of comedies in recent months featuring an impressive cast of acting veterans, including Maybe I Do and 80 for Brady, both of which left this reviewer unimpressed. Arriving just in time for Mother\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[213,1400,3297,3298,3299,3300,3823,4660,4854,5840,6063,8294,10302,13368,18035],"class_list":["post-26462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-213","tag-andy-garcia","tag-book-club-the-next-chapter","tag-book-club-the-next-chapter-film-review","tag-book-club-the-next-chapter-movie-review","tag-book-club-the-next-chapter-review","tag-candice-bergen","tag-comedy","tag-craig-t-nelson","tag-diane-keaton","tag-don-johnson","tag-giancarlo-giannini","tag-jane-fonda","tag-mary-steenburgen","tag-sequel"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}