Four actresses at the heart of rom-com ‘Book Club’ keep it afloat | Movie review

Were “Book Club” an actual book, a page turner it would not be.

The romantic comedy would be more of a lazy read — its plot developments range from sloppy to almost non-existent — but one with reasonably appealing characters.

It would be a nice-enough way to pass some time, and that can be said for this movie.

And it helps that “Book Club” is, in fact, a movie and that those characters are portrayed by four largely appealing veteran actresses, Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen. They play longtime friends in their 60s who for years have comprised a four-person book club that helps maintain their bond.

As represented through their romantic situations, they are relatively different women. Diane (Keaton) is not far removed from her husband’s death; Vivian (Fonda) enjoys the company of many men but is wary of getting serious with any one of them; Sharon (Bergen) has settled into a loveless rut after a decade-old divorce; and Carol (Steenburgen) is 35 years into a loving but stalling marriage.

When we first see their little club gather, it’s clear not all — Vivian included — were thrilled with their latest selection, which seems to have been hiker Cheryl Strayed 2012 memoir, “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.” Now, though, it is Vivian’s turn to pick.

“I would like to introduce you to Christian Grey,” she says, holding up a copy of E. L. James’ 2011 erotic romance novel “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

What follows are some grumbles, with one friend reminding Vivian that the books they choose to read are intended to stimulate the mind, Vivian retorting that her understanding is “Fifty Shades” is “quite stimulating.”

Reading “Fifty Shades” does stimulate the women, even as they fight off some lasting embarrassment over reading it. For example, Diane tells a handsome and charming gentleman, Mitchell (Andy Garcia), whom she sits next to on a flight that the book she was enjoying so much was “Moby Dick.” (He responds playfully that he didn’t realize Christian Grey was in “Moby Dick.”)

And, of course, Diane hasn’t seen the last of Mitchell, who on a subsequent flight pulls out all the stops in asking her to dinner, which she ultimately agrees to despite some big-time nerves.

Meanwhile, Carol is inspired by the book to try to spice things up with hubby Bruce (Craig T. Nelson), going so far as to inquire if the zip ties he asks her to hand him are to tie her up. (Just in case you’re unaware, that’s the kind of thing that goes in “Fifty Shades” and the other books in James’ trilogy. So, um, moving on …) Unfortunately for Sharon, the old gal Bruce is interesting right now is his motorcycle from back in the day, which he’s tuning up and trying to get road-ready.

After learning her ex-husband, Tom (Ed Begley Jr.), is seeing a much-younger woman, the fairly stuffy Sharon — a federal judge — decides to dip her toes into online dating after years of telling herself she didn’t need a man. Her first date, with George (Richard Dreyfuss), has … its moments.

And then there’s Vivian, a successful hotelier, whose world is shaken up when old flame Arthur (Don Johnson) appears at her property and takes an immediate interest in her again.

So we follow each of these ladies’ stories, some of which are better than others.

The biggest problem with “Book Club” is, as with myriad other rom-coms before it, there is no meaningful reason the men and women — in this case, Diane and Mitchel and Vivian with Arthur — shouldn’t be together.

Sure, down deep, Vivian is scared of being hurt, but it’s clear she and Authur share a chemistry — just as Fonda (“Grace and Frankie”) and onetime “Miami Vice” heartthrob Johnson (“Django Unchained”) do on screen. A scene in which Arthur goes into a fountain to retrieve a penny that, he feels, is part of a bungled wish by Vivian — leading to the pair getting into a splash fight — is nice.

It’s a similar deal with Diane and Mitchell, as well as Keaton and Garcia — at least once you get past the fact Keaton portrayed Garcia’s character’s aunt in 1990’s “The Godfather Part III.” Why don’t these two people just get together? Well, because Diane has two well-meaning but incredibly irritating daughters (Katie Aselton and Alicia Silverstone) who insist on babying their mother, putting intense pressure to move in with one of them. They want to track her every move, treating her as if she’s extremely old and feeble, which she very clearly is not. (Like some other movies centering on older characters, “Book Club” insists on playing on the idea of younger people not listening to or truly respecting them.)

“Book Club” is written by Bill Holderman and Erin Simms, with Holderman making his directorial debut. His inexperience shows at times, with, for example, that despite two fine actors in Steenburgen (“The Book of Love”) and Nelson (“Parenthood”), the problems of Carol and Bruce aren’t more compelling.

As writers, they try to spice things up with a fair amount of double-entendres. Sometimes, these are pretty funny. Other times, such as when Sharon takes her lethargic cat to the vet’s, they’re mostly painful.

Even though you want “Book Club” to give you something more, that it gives you Keaton, Fonda, Steenburgen and Bergen — and, to a lesser, degree Garcia, Johnson, Nelson and the underutilized Dreyfuss — ultimately is enough.

Stimulate the mind it doesn’t, but pass the time it does.

‘Book Club’

In theaters: May 18.

Rated: PG-13 for sex-related material throughout, and for language.

Runtime: 1 hour, 44 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.5.

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