Book Club

"Hollywood acting royalty Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen play friends who have been meeting once a month to drink wine and chat books. After four decades, starting in the 1970s when they read Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying, they’re up to Fifty Shades of Grey, (with author E.L. James even popping up in a cameo role). But whilst the protagonists play characters in differing occupations and relationships, all are heterosexual, upper-middle-class, prosperous, privileged and white."

"There's a maturity and warmth to director Bill Holderman and Erin Simms's script, which respects these ladies and understands that they've got a wealth of life experience that doesn't exactly fit into one rom-com."

"The kind of comfort-food movie that's been pre-masticated by committee to the consistency of pudding (with even less flavor)."

"...a piece of Nancy Meyers-esque escapism, in which musing about romantic frustration is only a bottle of pinot and a picturesque view away from being neatly resolved."

"These women - Ms. Fonda, Ms. Keaton, Ms. Steenburgen and Ms. Bergen, that is - have nothing to prove. Each one brings enough credibility and charisma to "Book Club" to render its weaknesses largely irrelevant."

"I absolutely, utterly and completely loathed this film."

"It will appeal to those who want to switch off and be entertained by a film as light and fluffy as a pav."

"It's a pleasant, no-stakes affair, as numbing as a two-glass buzz."

"Fonda. Bergen. Keaton. Steenburgen. "Book Club." Sure, "Avengers: Infinity War" came out a few weeks ago, but now this is the greatest crossover event in history."

"As far as it goes, Book Club is a mostly painless ride, with a few laugh-out-loud moments, but as Peggy Lee memorably sang, Is that all there is?"