Book Club: The Next Chapter

When an AI script generator is fed "cliches about older women" "Italy tourism brochures" and "text from wine-themed decor items," this is what's spit out. I left 2/3 of the way through so I'm not technically qualified to give a full review... but I had to force myself to stay that long. Jane Fonda was particularly assaulted by the script, but none were spared. Even Italy should fire their agent over this one~ no hackneyed tourist trap was overlooked, no cliche left out. I need 118 more characters for this review to post but the movie was so dull that further criticism is fruit hanging too low. Just. Don't. Do It.

I don't see how this film could be much worse, and it saddens me to watch four of the most talented, dynamic, personable female actors of their generation in this cringeworthy mess. Lame jokes about being old, silly and non-romance (I celebrate any well done late-life love story, but come on!), cliche upon cliche and basically phoned-in performances all around. Sorry to be so negative, but these women deserve better, beginning with a better script. I couldn't bear to watch all the way through, so I will hope that somehow I am wrong and just stopped watching too soon. The first Book Club movie was entertaining, and I thought the characters were interesting and funny, but this one left me cold.

Diane (Diane Keaton), Vivian (Jane Fonda), Sharon (Candice Bergen), and Carol (Mary Steenburgen) are the best of friends. They are meeting in person for the first time since the isolation of the pandemic. They decide to go to Italy.

I'm fine with the first movie. It's fine. Don't ask me to watch a sequel. Yet here we are. I don't begrudge anyone from doing a honest day's work, but this one is a classic Adam Sandler move. Sandler often gets a bunch of his friends and makes a movie at some exotic resort location. There's a lot of that here. The writing is boring. I stopped caring about these characters. Maybe they'll stop making these although I can see a way to make the next one interesting.

It has scenes that make you smile like in the first episode. You can choose to watch if you want to spend a pleasant time. Watching Italy through Bill Holderman's eyes is a different pleasure. Diane Keaton and Andy Garcia go well together. I wish they would come together in a different movie. It is a great chance for us to still see these beautiful people on the cinema screen despite their ages. If I come to Don Johnson's age, I want to look good like him. It is a great pleasure to be able to watch Giancarlo Giannini in this episode. Long live Giancarlo. Thanks to this movie, I realized how much I miss Italy. Wait for me Italy, I'll be there as soon as possible.

By the way, I hope the same cast can make another episode.

Book Club: The Next Chapter is a film so lazy it almost feels as if it were written by AI instead of living, breathing human beings. It's got plenty of zingers and the cast tries their best to deliver them as best they can, but even the finest thespians in the world can't make this dialogue sound realistic. The story is non-existent as the four lead characters go from tourist spot to tourist spot, drinking wine, telling corny sex jokes, and offering up cliche proverbs about friendship that are so stale and tired that they're gag inducing. The first film was no fine masterpiece, but it at least had a little more substance to it. This is simply a waste of a fine cast, but I hope they enjoyed their trip to Italy.