Legendary mavens return for light, bubbly trip to Italy
It seems like everyone’s going to Italy these days. Thanks to a strong dollar and pandemic-induced wanderlust, it’s not just influencers, old friends and exes filling up their Instagram feeds with gelato and pasta. “Succession” Season 3 took a trip to Tuscany, “The White Lotus” Season 2 checked in for a stay in Sicily, while Toni Collette landed in Rome to become the “Mafia Mamma.” And now the “Book Club” gals — Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen, Diane Keaton and Candice Bergen — take off for a wine-soaked adventure off the page in the fluffy and fantastical “Book Club: The Next Chapter.”
Directed by Bill Holderman and written by Holderman and Erin Simms, this sequel is even more of a heightened fantasy than the 2018 film. It requires tossing aside every scrap of disbelief and grabbing onto a glass of Prosecco instead, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be a touching story about the importance of lifelong friendships. When Vivian (Fonda) grasps her girls in a group hug and declares them her “soul mates,” it’s hard not to be moved by their friendship, which is a lively balance of pleasure seeking, hapless adventure and a dose of tough love.
In the first film, the ladies got their groove back thanks to “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and in “The Next Chapter,” it’s about forging a new path with Paolo Coelho’s “The Alchemist,” the quartet looking for signs, which lead them to Italy under the auspices of a bachelorette party for Vivian, who is now engaged to Arthur (Don Johnson).
“The Next Chapter” stumbles at the outset. The 2020-set preamble retreads tired pandemic material about Zoom happy hours as the book club goes virtual, and the machinations to get them to Italy are so tortured that as an audience, we feel ahead of the characters. It’s not until they arrive in Venice that we fall in step with them, as they shake loose their uptight sensibilities for the Italian way of life, following the signs like Coelho’s protagonist.
The film was shot in Italy, offering a bit of travelogue appeal, though it retains the look of a carefully lit studio backlot. The characters are essentially riffs on these legendary actors’ personas — not exactly transformative acting here. But Bergen proves to be the MVP as salty retired judge Sharon. She’s the very necessary hit of acid needed to make this confection palatable.
This is a film that wants to have it all, to celebrate the women who take the nontraditional path but still end in a white wedding; to offer a portrait of feminine sexuality of a certain age, but remain couched in heterosexual monogamy. There are some inherent contradictions in what it wants to hold as true at the same time, but it’s also honest in that it offers a space for those truths to coexist.
“Book Club: The Next Chapter” is about finding balance: between reading the signs and controlling your narrative, between taking a leap of faith and putting in the hard work, and most importantly, putting your desires first and having the bravery to take the reins, whether that means marriage or a rendezvous with a handsome professor. It may be treacly and unrealistic, but “Book Club: The Next Chapter” has heart and soul.
MPA rating: PG-13 (for some strong language and suggestive material) Running time: 1:47
How to watch: In theaters