"Book Club: The Next Chapter" a delightful salve with effortless chemistry and a lot of wine

Book Club: The Next Chapter (2023)

2018’s “Book Club” may have catered to a target audience that was over 60, but it was a treat for anyone who wanted to see four seasoned pros get their grooves back. Even through some clunky writing here and there, it was a breezy, likable entertainment buoyed by these acting veterans’ sheer comedic-dramatic professionalism and their engaging dynamic as old friends. A sequel was inevitable, even five years later, and it’s just as much of a spry crowd-pleaser, giving Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen the opportunity to be funny, vivacious, and charming and not just old biddy types. If “Book Club” corresponded with each “Sex and the City” character, “Book Club: The Next Chapter” is as much of a glossy travelogue as “Sex and the City 2” (with less navel-gazing and cosmos).


Five years ago, E.L. James’ tie-me-up-tie-me-down fiction, "Fifty Shades of Grey," was the basis for the sexual discovery between these four friends. Now, it’s Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist,” which affirms that fate works in mysterious ways for these book clubbers. In the interim since the first film, enough has changed. Getting her second act of love with pilot Mitchell (Andy Garcia), uptight Diane (Keaton) still holds on to her late husband’s ashes in a coffee can. Dry-tongued Sharon (Bergen) is retiring as a judge and trying to get comfortable with the single life, but her cat isn’t going to live forever. Chef Carol (Steenburgen) lost her restaurant to the pandemic and is now busy keeping tabs on her husband, Bruce (Craig T. Nelson), who’s recuperating from a heart attack. COVID lockdown is actually acknowledged, and the bumbling-on-Zoom jokes are actually kept to a minimum, even after the amusing sight of Diane as a potato Memoji. After they all reunite and immediately have a glass of wine in hand, hotelier Vivian (Fonda) has some news: her rekindled flame, Arthur (Don Johnson), has proposed. With the travel ban lifted, Carol encourages them to finally take a trip to Italy while they still can and make a bachelorette party out of it. Anything could happen!


“Book Club” was already a new chapter for these women, so “Book Club: The Next Chapter” is really just a vacation for them. It’s defiantly plotless, but this is one of those cases where “it’s a feature, not a bug.” Returning writer-director Bill Holderman and co-writer Erin Simms don’t let too much plot get in the way of this core four. In fact, the biggest conflict may be the theft of their luggage at a train station. A major pleasure of “Book Club: The Next Chapter”—and the first “Book Club”—is just hanging out with Keaton, Fonda, Bergen, and Steenburgen, as they converse, laugh, and drink wine. So much wine, but it is Italy this time, and there’s always time to finish off a bottle of Prosecco. 


Between the bawdy bon mots, gauzily shot tourism, water-taxi sexcapades, frolicking around and looking at nude statues, and a wedding-gown montage, there is genuine solidarity and tough-love openness with these four women. All of them receive mini-arcs and life lessons, and they all feel earned if a little tidy, but who gives a merda? A few improvements have been made since this film's predecessor, like there being fewer instances of fake green screen and less of an overly punchy music score. Airy but wise and unapologetically randy but less strained with its humor, “Book Club: The Next Chapter” is a delightful salve with the effortless vibe of friends just talking about life — and polishing off a few bottles. Here’s to the ladies who read.


Grade: B


Focus Features is releasing “Book Club: The Next Chapter” (107 min.) in theaters on May 12, 2023. 

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