Critic Reviews
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Anna Smith, Time Out
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.
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Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
Worth attending.
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Tom Beer, Time Out New York
The real disappointment is the paint-by-numbers flatness of the contemporary stories and characters; it's hard to care much about Sylvia and Prudie with Elizabeth Bennett and Emma Woodhouse hovering in the wings.
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Connie Ogle, Miami Herald
This marvelously intelligent romantic comedy will captivate even those who don't know or care much about Austen, although there's undeniably an extra layer of pure delight to be found if you do.
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Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
Unlike so many chick flicks that celebrate female solidarity as a concept without ever making us feel it, The Jane Austen Book Club is convincingly feminist in a nonpolitical way.
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Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The film has an undeniable, easygoing charm. Real life is seldom so pleasingly plotted, but then real life is what people go to movies like this to get away from.
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Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique
...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...
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Heather Huntington, ReelzChannel.com
A surprisingly successful, un-Hallmark-ified take on the traditional chick flick.
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Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
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.
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Brandon Fibbs, Colorado Springs Gazette
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.
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Brian Webster, Apollo Guide
Extras on the disc include a full-length audio commentary by several members of the cast and crew.
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Brian Webster, Apollo Guide
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.
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James Plath, Movie Metropolis
You have the sense and sensibility that this could have been more penetrating than it is.
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Sean Axmaker, MSN.com
This is definitely engineered to appeal to Austen fans, but the characters feel less sincere than their literary counterparts...
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Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
The premise lives or dies on the gamble that you can perform a dramatic transplant of the Austen moral and cultural sensibility from the prim etiquette of 19th century drawing room England to today's flighty LA swingers.
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Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile
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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Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
Charming, funny and romantic.
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Matthew Turner, thelondonpaper
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.
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Anthony Quinn, Independent
The contrivance is horrible, the schmaltz unpardonable.
Read all 19 critic reviews
Featured Audience Ratings
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Interesting how six members of the book club's lives play out over six months - one month for each of Jane Austen's books. I had two problems - 1) the movie was too predictable and 2) I would probably have rated it one more star if I had actually read Austen's books.… More
Interesting how six members of the book club's lives play out over six months - one month for each of Jane Austen's books. I had two problems - 1) the movie was too predictable and 2) I would probably have rated it one more star if I had actually read Austen's books. I've only read one (P&P), and it hardly had a role in the movie at all.
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Much like an actual Austen novel, a group of women are changed by their relationships, defined by their sex, and smart as whips. Good for any Austen aficionado, or at least someone who's seen one of the adapted films.
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I found this film so dumb. I found that the acting was not the best.
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This is a film filled with really well fleshed out characters but with a story that is a little bare. There is no real beginning and end to it but just a look into these peoples lives as they begin relationships that may last a life time.
All the actresses do great jobs with the… More
This is a film filled with really well fleshed out characters but with a story that is a little bare. There is no real beginning and end to it but just a look into these peoples lives as they begin relationships that may last a life time.
All the actresses do great jobs with the roles they have been given and Dancy holds his own against all these powerful women.
I haven't read any of the books of Jane Austen and this movie didn't make me want to either. But it was nice seeing them do it.
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Movie about a book club for 6 Jane Austen novels. The members of the club realise they have a lot in common with the characters in Jane Austen's books. Which helps them to make changes to their own relationships.
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Better than I expected it to be. I have not read much of Jane Austen's stuff, (or especially liked what I did read), but I could still follow this one okay. Emily Blunt is excellent in this as an uptight French teacher - I liked the scenes between her and Kevin Zeger. I… More
Better than I expected it to be. I have not read much of Jane Austen's stuff, (or especially liked what I did read), but I could still follow this one okay. Emily Blunt is excellent in this as an uptight French teacher - I liked the scenes between her and Kevin Zeger. I didn't personally love the ending too much, I would have liked to have seen that character go a different way, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen this yet. The rest of the cast are also good, and while I don't think I would have paid money to see this at the cinema, it is an above average chick flick and worth a rent.
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really good film its funny and heart warming and you dont really need to know jane austin books to understand this movie!
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Karen Joy Fowler's best selling tale of loss, heartbreak, confusion and pride bring together, over six months, six lives to form a book club discussing the works of Jane Austen (<i>Emma, Pride & Prejudice, Persuasion</i> and others). They're quite an… More
Karen Joy Fowler's best selling tale of loss, heartbreak, confusion and pride bring together, over six months, six lives to form a book club discussing the works of Jane Austen (<i>Emma, Pride & Prejudice, Persuasion</i> and others). They're quite an interesting bunch... and they all love Elizabeth and Darcy! With its superb ensemble cast, this is fun watch.
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This movie was spectacular! It has all these little stories that inter-weave to create the big story. That's what makes it so great, it's like 4 stories in one and everyone was brilliant!
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What a very good ensemble cast in this film. The Jane Austen Book Club is about a group of friends that start a book club specifically on Jane Austen novels. Each has a special connection with the books and the plots around them. Watch how a group of friends that begin this group for… More
What a very good ensemble cast in this film. The Jane Austen Book Club is about a group of friends that start a book club specifically on Jane Austen novels. Each has a special connection with the books and the plots around them. Watch how a group of friends that begin this group for a recent friend's depression from a divorce to a big hit that changes all of them...check this out!
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This was bad. Really bad. But better than no movie on the plane, I suppose.
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I like Jane Austen, but not a huge fan. This movie is fun, coz like a dialogue between men and women. very interesting perspectives...I probably will watch it twice
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Made me seriously consider taking up reading Jane Austen again, despite the fact that I was bored to tears after the first few chapters of Persuasion (causing me to turn to the movie, which was amazing). One of the more highly anticipated movies of the year and it totally, totally met… More
Made me seriously consider taking up reading Jane Austen again, despite the fact that I was bored to tears after the first few chapters of Persuasion (causing me to turn to the movie, which was amazing). One of the more highly anticipated movies of the year and it totally, totally met my expectations. Emily Blunt is my hero.
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[font=Century Gothic]In "The Jane Austen Book Club," Prudie(Emily Blunt) is understandably upset at her husband(Marc Blucas) reneging on a promise to take her to Paris, so instead she attends a Jane Austen film festival at a local movie theatre where she meets… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "The Jane Austen Book Club," Prudie(Emily Blunt) is understandably upset at her husband(Marc Blucas) reneging on a promise to take her to Paris, so instead she attends a Jane Austen film festival at a local movie theatre where she meets Bernadette(Kathy Baker, taking the Olympia Dukakis part) who likes weddings so much she has been married six times. Bernadette invites her new friend to join a Jane Austen book club she is forming to distract two friends of hers from recent heartbreak. Jocelyn(Maria Bello), a dog breeder, has a favorite dog who just died while Sylvia's(Amy Brenneman) husband(Jimmy Smits) just left her for another woman. Sylvia's daughter Allegra(Maggie Grace) moves back home to take care of her mother while joining the book club. The circle is closed when Jocelyn meets Grigg(Hugh Dancy, who was born to act in a Jane Austen movie), a tech support expert, who has never read a Jane Austen novel but will give it a try...[/font]
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[font=Century Gothic]"The Jane Austen Book Club" is a pleasant diversion about the joy of reading in a hectic world(notice all the cell phones in the opening credits) that also takes a shot at gender roles, especially with the two subplots concerning older women and younger men. Not only women can get a kick out of Jane Austen while not only men enjoy and write science fiction. And it is cool that Ursula K. Le Guin gets so many mentions, even though I did not like the one book of hers that I read - "The Dispossessed." In fact, the movie is thankfully very geek positive by casting the charming Hugh Dancy as a geek, defying stereotype. I especially liked that Grigg assumed the Jane Austen novels were structured like a science fiction book series like the Baroque Cycle or the Earthsea Series.[/font]
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Oh my!!! I love great stories with happy endings. This one wrapped up just the way I like it (even though it was a little too simple and easy in some ways. But it was a very great story. I loved it.
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[color=red][b][size=5]The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)[/size][/b][/color]
[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/coverv/28/1668528.jpg[/img]
[color=darkred][b][i]U ovom filmu čiji je scenario pisan po knjizi Karen Joy Fowler, grupa ljubitelja literature Jane Austen… More
[color=red][b][size=5]The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)[/size][/b][/color]
[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/coverv/28/1668528.jpg[/img]
[color=darkred][b][i]U ovom filmu čiji je scenario pisan po knjizi Karen Joy Fowler, grupa ljubitelja literature Jane Austen se susreće jednom mesečno da diskutuju knjige koje imitiraju ?ivot koji ?ive. Svako u grupi je u različitoj fazi ?ivota: Sylvia (Amy Brenneman), koju je mu? napustio posle 20 godina braka i njena ćerka Allegra (Maggie Grace), kojoj je potrebna devojka, Bernadette (Kathy Baker) koja se venčala tek pre 6 meseci , dok Jocelyn (Maria Bello) ima jedino vezu sa svojim psima. Ovoj se grupi pridru?uju Prudie (koju izvanredno glumi Emily Blunt), učiteljica koja je nesretna u braku i koja ?eli započeti aferu sa učenikom i Grigg (Hugh Dancy), jedini mu?karac u grupi koji do tada nije pročitao nijednu knjigu Jane Austen, jer je uvek čitao naučnu fantastiku!
[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1175178/photo_02.jpg[/img]
THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB je film u kojem je gluma ono ?to izdvaja film. Ovo je delo koje vas jednostavno tera da se lepo osećate kada budete izlazili iz bioskopa... ?armantno re?iran i elegantno montiran, pravi praznik za oči i u?i.
[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1175178/photo_23.jpg[/img]
Ovoga puta 7-10 je ocena koja bi mo?da mogla biti i malo veća...
[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1175178/photo_12.jpg[/img]
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it was actually pretty good
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Well, it's official: it's a chick flick, by all means. You can tell by just the premise: a group of woman (and one man), gather to read all of the Jane Austen books and learn about life and love at the same time. But this one is thoroughly enjoyable, a delight to watch.… More
Well, it's official: it's a chick flick, by all means. You can tell by just the premise: a group of woman (and one man), gather to read all of the Jane Austen books and learn about life and love at the same time. But this one is thoroughly enjoyable, a delight to watch. While it won't rank in the films of the century or anything, it will please women for years to come. The whole movie is filled with tender scenes, such as the one where one of them is telling her girlfriend about something that happened a long time ago with a mentally handicapped boy that she will always feel guilty about, or the one when a woman and her ex-husband must come together again because their daughter is hurt, or when the teacher and her student arrange a meeting and she is looking at him across the street and can only think of her husband. I also thought the romance between Grigg and Jocelyn in the movie was especially sweet. I loved the neediness, the intimacy. I loved watching it unfold exactly as you know it was going to.
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Read all 20 featured audience ratings
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