Book Club: The Next Chapter – Film Review
Given the surprising box office success of the original Book Club in 2018, it was no surprise when a sequel was put in motion. While it is nice to be reunited with these four best friends, the story itself is simply fine.
Inspired by Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, Diane (Diane Keaton), Vivian (Jane Fonda), Sharon (Candice Bergen) and Carol (Mary Steenburgen) take a trip to Italy for a fun girls’ trip they’ve never had.
The shining light across both Book Club films is the camaraderie between these four friends. The characters are interesting on their own and each brings a fun subplot to the table but the film really shines when they are together as a four. They are very convincing as decades-long friends – they have the shorthand, the tough-love approach and the ability to make each other howl with laughter. They make the dialogue pop off the page and their interactions are always entertaining to watch.
The first Book Club was largely confined to their homes/workplaces in Los Angeles. The ladies all had jobs and relationship/dating crises and regularly met up to discuss the Fifty Shades of Grey book series as well as their personal problems. This one is much bigger in scale and has more of an adventure feel to it. The film still has friendship at its core and it is heavy on the romance, but it is also a comedy caper, with many things going wrong during the trip.
The Alchemist inspires them to go travelling at first but there is very little to do with books after that. In the original, the book club device was a way for the four friends to meet up regularly and discuss their life updates over wine – but they don’t need it this time around because they’re always together.
This film was often amusing but I wanted it to make me laugh out loud more. The jokes didn’t always work and sexual innuendos were used a bit too much. But my biggest issue with this sequel was the ending. The third act was a lovely idea but it was written in such an overly sentimental and heavy-handed way. Also, I suspected what would happen during the climactic moment so it didn’t have the same impact.
If I had to pick a favourite out of the core four, I would go for Bergen as Sharon – she makes me laugh the most and is quite the dark horse. All of the ladies are so well cast as their respective characters and with each other – their platonic chemistry is wonderful to watch and they make the film as sweet and uplifting as it is.
In cinemas from Friday 12th May