Starring: Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen, Candice Bergen, Craig T. Nelson, Richard Dreyfuss, Andy García, Don Johnson, Alicia Silverstone, Katie Aselton, Wallace Shawn
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Comedy directed and co-written by Bill Holderman. Book Club (2018) centers on four lifelong friends, Diane (Diane Keaton), who is recently widowed after 40 years of marriage. Vivian (Jane Fonda), who enjoys her men with no strings attached. Sharon (Candice Bergen), who is still working through a decades-old divorce, and Carol (Mary Steenburgen), whose marriage is in a slump after 35 years. The four women attend a monthly book club where they bond over the typical suggested literature. However, their lives are turned upside down when their book club tackles the infamous Fifty Shades of Grey. Viewing it as a wakeup call, they decide to expand their lives and chase pleasures that have eluded them.
Our Favorite Quotes:
'The truth is, love is not blind, and it's not a battlefield, and it's not the sun, or the moon, or everything we load onto it. It's just a word until someone gives it meaning.' - Sharon (Book Club) Click To Tweet
Best Quotes
Sharon: My son is engaged and my husband is in Maui with a tartlet named Cheryl.
Diane: Oh.
Sharon: I need a drink.
Carol: Your “husband”?
Diane: You can’t possibly still care about what Tom is doing.
Sharon: I don’t care. But the guy gets seasick in a swimming pool. I mean, what the hell is he doing in Maui?
Vivian: Sounds like he’s doing Cheryl in Maui.
Sharon: Oh, please. Who gets involved in a relationship at sixty-seven? I mean, what is the point?
Vivian: The point is to get laid. It’s always the point.
Sharon: Don’t make me sick.
Carol: Who still says “get laid”?
Diane: Who still has any interest?
Vivian: No, no, no. I am not going to let us become those people.
Diane: What people…
Vivian: You know what people. The people who stop living before they stop living.
Sharon: I haven’t had sex since my divorce, and it’s been the happiest eighteen years of my life.
Vivian: That must be some kind of record. I mean, what even happens to a v***na after eighteen years?
Diane: I think Werner Herzog did a documentary on that.
Carol: Yeah. It’s called The Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
Sharon: Okay! Will you stop it? Moving on. Let’s talk about the book.
Vivian: Oh, God. The hiking book? Really?
Carol: Come on! I liked it! It’s such a remarkable undertaking. Can you imagine?
Sharon: No, I cannot. I don’t even like walking to my mailbox.
Carol: It’s just an amazing story. So many layers. I wouldn’t even know how to break it down.
Vivian: I’ll break it down for you. She hikes, she lost her boot, she did heroin.
Diane: Did you only read the back cover?
Vivian: I wish. I kept wanting to shout at her, “Oh, wait ten years, honey. Dry shampoo is coming.”
Sharon: If you would ever connect with something on a more emotional level…
Vivian: Emotional connection is highly overrated.
Carol: You have not had an emotional connection for forty years.
Sharon: Wow, that must be some type of record.
Diane: Yeah, but what happens to emotions after forty years?
Vivian: Okay. Are you guys having fun?
Diane: Oh, come on. You know we love you.
Carol: Maybe it’s time you did take a hike and try to reconnect with your own true self.
Sharon: I’ll buy you a backpack.
Vivian: I’ll tell you how to reconnect with your own true self, and it ain’t by walking alone through the desert.
Vivian: I would like to introduce you to Christian Grey.
Diane: Oh.
Sharon: Oh, no.
Vivian: [as she hands out Fifty Shades of Grey books] It was a bestseller made into a movie.
Carol: That is our theme this year.
Diane: Oh, wow.
Sharon: We are not reading this.
Vivian: It’s my month! When it’s your month, you can choose whatever boring, depressing book you want.
Sharon: [referring to Fifty Shades of Grey book] I’m not sure this qualifies as a book.
Vivian: Well, fifty million people can’t be wrong.
Sharon: To even be holding this book is embarrassing.
Vivian: Who’s judging you, your cat?
Carol: I do like the idea of a romance.
Sharon: We are too old!
Carol: But it says right here “for mature audiences”.
Diane: Yeah, that certainly sounds like us.
Sharon: We started this book club to stimulate our minds.
Vivian: Well, from what I hear, this book is quite stimulating.
Diane: Oh, God.
Vivian: So, come on! Let’s toast to our new book.
Carol: Alright.
Vivian: Oh, good. Drink up. Hoist that glass. Happy reading, ladies!
Diane: [referring to the Fifty Shades of Grey book] Oh, what’s that? That’s not mine. I’ve never seen that book before, honestly.
Customs Officer: This is nasty.
Vivian: This is going to be a game changer.
Carol: Have you ever been spanked?
Diane: What?
Carol: This book has got me in a total tizzy.
Carol: We’re sure not spring flowers.
Vivian: No. More like potpourri.
Bruce: Can you hand me the zip-ties?
Carol: Are you thinking about tying me up?
Bruce: What?
Carol: Nothing. I was just…
Sharon: If women our age were meant to have sex God wouldn’t do what he does to our bodies.
Vivian: [nudges her breasts] Speak for yourself.
Sharon: Well, that was not God, that was Dr. Nazaria.
'Maybe things with us will go bust, but that's life.' - Diane (Book Club) Click To Tweet
Carol: [to Sharon] You just need to put yourself out there.
Assistant: [as she’s looking at dating website] Judge Meyers?
Sharon: Yes.
Website: Warm up your love life with these tips.
Assistant: Do you need anything else, your Honor?
Website: The man of your dreams is just a click away.
Sharon: [looks embarrassed and tries to close the website] No, I don’t. I’m fine. Thank you.
Assistant: Yep.
Arthur: Slim?
Vivian: My oh my. Arthur Ronnie.
Arthur: What’s it been, forty years?
Vivian: That’s impossible. That would mean I was only six.
Vivian: Do you need some help?
Carol: [as they see Sharon with the dress she tried on] I don’t think you have that on quiet right.
Sharon: Can you get me some scissors, I can’t feel my feet.
Carol: Since when do you eat ice cream?
Vivian: I got a brain freeze.
Sharon: Here, give that to a professional.
Vivian: Oh, my God.
Sharon: [to Diane] Do you even remember your last date? We’re talking Nixon era.
Vivian: It’s the first date, so put on something sexy.
Sharon: Just be comfortable.
Sharon: [as Diane comes out wearing a large men’s shirt] That’s too comfortable.
Diane: Right.
Diane: [answering the door to her date, Mitchell] Well, hey, you.
Carol: [as she, Vivian, and Sharon watch them from one of windows] I love a man who brings flowers.
Mitchell: Everybody remembers their first kiss.
Diane: How about I tell you about my best kiss?
Mitchell: Maybe that hasn’t happened yet.
Arthur: [referring to the diner] I never thought I’d be back here again.
Vivian: Is it as good as you remember?
Arthur: Maybe better.
Jill: [to Diane] Mom, you need to be a little bit realistic.
Diane: [referring to Mitchell] There’s a man out there who makes me feel things that I didn’t think was still possible.
Diane: [referring to Mitchell] Maybe things with us will go bust, but that’s life. And I’m not through living mine just yet.
George: [to Sharon] You are better at this than you think.
Sharon: [to George] Shut up and kiss me.
Bruce: [as they get pulled over by the cops] I can’t believe you put Viagra in my beer.
Sheriff Mendoza: Sir, I’m going to need you to step out of the vehicle.
Bruce: I don’t think that’s a good idea, officer.
Sheriff Mendoza: [as he notices the effects of the Viagra on Bruce] Okay, enjoy your night.
Sheriff Mendoza: [knowingly to Carol] You too.
Carol: Thank you.
Vivian: I don’t care what society says about women our age. Sex must not be taken off the table.
Sharon: Do we want another bottle?
Carol and Vivian: Yes!
Sharon: [gives a toast at her son and ex-husband’s double engagement party] As few, well, if any of you know, I’m Jared’s mother, Judge Meyers. Or Sharon. I just wanted to say, I don’t think that’s what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote those lines. He was saying Cupid is blind. He wasn’t saying that people should go think themselves into love and a system of pluses or minuses. But whatever. Anyway, when I look at my son, I am so proud of him because he has had the courage to put himself out there, and he’s found someone to make him happy. That’s inspiring. Even for someone as old as me. The truth is, love is not blind, and it’s not a battlefield, and it’s not the sun, or the moon, or everything we load onto it. It’s just a word until someone gives it meaning. And that’s what the two of you have found in each other. In fact, all four of you. And we all deserve that. Well done.
Trailer: