The Jane Austen Book Club Reviews

...not a genre film but...deserves mention for portraying a character who is a fan of science-fiction but is not characterized as a hopeless geek...

Full Review

A surprisingly successful, un-Hallmark-ified take on the traditional chick flick.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10

Austen wrote six novels and The Jane Austen Book Club is about six people who meet to discuss them over the course of six months. 666. Coincidence? I think not.

Full Review | Original Score: 0/4

The Jane Austen Book Club is both a testament to Austen's continued relevance and a fine example of classroom particulars converted into entertaining banter without losing any oomph.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10

If you're prepared to sit through a lot of mediocrity in search of a few worthwhile moments and a couple of actors who rise above the material, then you might be satisfied.

Full Review | Original Score: 66/100

Breaking up, jealousies, match making and a bid for second chances are the themes of this vibrant and uplifting film that explores life, love and desire.

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Charming, funny and romantic.

Full Review | Original Score: B

These ladies have too much time on their hands if the only thing they worry about is finishing their reading assignment in time for their next bout of well-heeled lusting.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

The contrivance is horrible, the schmaltz unpardonable.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

THIS beautifully acted story is, underneath it all, a fairly formulaic chick flick.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Positively marinated in oestrogen, this is aimed at middle-aged females - the more unhappily married the better - with the cardiganed cast spending much of the running time drinking tea on verandas and moaning about men over their knitting.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

The Jane Austen Book Club, based on Karen Joy Fowler's bestseller, offers a distinctive vision of hell - a plane of being where there are only six novels that matter, and they're consulted like all-purpose agony aunts.

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This is a rom-com that tries to be sassy and true but ends up ridiculously unlike any kind of reality at all.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

A twittering soap opera about five Californian women using Jane as an agony aunt for their love problems.

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Comfortable if unchallenging, watching this gentle, female-oriented film is a bit like curling up in bed with a book whose ending you already know. No alarms and no surprises.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

The women are so seemingly at ease in their roles that the movie drifts towards its happy-ever-after finale without a missed beat.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Average romantic drama that stays watchable thanks to its excellent cast, though it's neither as emotionally engaging nor as clever as it thinks it is.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Quite a nice little relationship comedy-drama, but essentially for an audience of what the French charmingly call 'women of a certain age'. Totally not the Superbad set, then.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

A drippy chick-flick about six Sacramentans who find their lives mirroring the English novelist's fictions.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Just fine in a sentimental, mainstream kind of way. Although by constantly referencing Austen's sharp wit and characterisation, this can only ever come up short in comparison.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/6