The Jane Austen Book Club

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A group of women get together to form The Jane Austen Book Club 'and are surprised to find that their love lives mirror the characters in Austen's novels, despite the two hundred year separation. Among the mini-stories, Sylvia's (Brennerman) husband (Jimmy Smits) has puzzlingly left her for a middle-aged woman and Jocelyn (Bello) struggles to allow her true feelings to show for Grigg (Mr. Dancy), the only man in the group. If you're not au fait with Austen's books and your familiarity with her work extends only to those TV and film adaptations, you're in my club. Swicord, in adapting Karen Joy Fowler's book, assumes that the majority of viewers are in the same boat and is only too delighted to give us a Jane Austen 101 lesson - and what an enjoyable lecture it is. Of all the characters it's Blunt's teacher who shines; she's given the meatiest role because not only does her story document the breakdown of her marriage (to Buffy's Marc Blucas), she also struggles to come to terms with her attraction to a student, and Blunt delivers on all fronts. She, and the rest of the likeable cast, help us ignore the corny cliches, obvious storylines, the metaphor-heavy dialogue and all the throwaway sugary fluff that is synonymous with chick flicks. If this is a hit, maybe we can hope for The Charles Bukowski Book Club next year - now there's a movie I'd like to see.