Book Club

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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Ever belong to a book club? It’s a great way to share your reading pleasure – particularly if your group selects “Fifty Shades of Grey” as its monthly selection.

In the new rom-com called (you guessed it) “Book Club,” four 60ish friends go hilariously astray after reading this “nasty” book club selection. That’s the power of print … in a movie.

The readers (played by Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candace Bergin, and Mary Steenburgen) are inspired to rethink their lives, and pursue the so-called “last chapter” of their lives in a more sexual way.

As one of the gals proclaims, “Ladies, I am not going to let us become those people who stop living before they stop living.”

Here we have Diane (Keaton) as a recent widow; Vivian (Fonda) as a woman who “enjoys her men with no strings attached”; Sharon (Bergen) as a judge working her way through a decades-old divorce; and Carol (Steenburgen) as a woman whose marriage seems to be in a slump.

You can practically take it from there with this script co-written by the film’s freshman director, Bill Holderman.

“Book Club” is currently holding its meetings at Tropic Cinema.

The answer to the gals’ romantic prayers comes in the form of Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, Richard Dreyfuss, and Craig T. Nelson.

Sharon says, “If women our age were meant to have sex God wouldn’t do what he does to our bodies.”

“Speak for yourself,” responds Vivian, displaying the shape of her perky breasts.

“Well, that was not God,” Sharon corrects her. “That was Dr. Nazaria.”

Thus, the women become encouraged to explore their own futures.

Keaton’s character:
Mitchell (Garcia): “Everybody remembers their first kiss.”

Diane: “How about I tell you about my best kiss?”

Mitchell: “Maybe that hasn’t happened yet.”

Fonda’s character:
Vivian: “My oh my. Arthur Ronnie.”

Arthur (Johnson): “What’s it been, forty years?”

Vivian: “That’s impossible. That would mean I was only six.”

Bergen’s character:
George (Dreyfuss): “You are better at this than you think.”

Sharon: “Shut up and kiss me.”

Steenburgen’s character:
Bruce (Nelson): “Can you hand me the zip-ties?”

Carol: “Are you thinking about tying me up?”

Bruce (looking confused): “What?”

Carol: “Nothing. I was just…”

As for the plot’s inspiration, “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E L James …
Carol: “This book has got me in a total tizzy.”

A final note: Don Johnson’s appearance seems kinda ironic, being that his daughter Dakota Johnson starred in the “Fifty Shades” movie trilogy.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com