Parents' Guide to Book Club

No matter how you feel about the Fifty Shades of Grey books, it's a treat to watch this quartet of excellent actresses on screen together, although the comedy is only somewhat entertaining. Although it would be wonderful for the 65-and-over actresses to perform in a film that didn't involve Fifty Shades as a central plot point, it's undeniably amusing to see them banter in this Nancy Meyers-like comedy. (Gorgeous homes? Check! Keaton's trademark costume style? Check! Sexagenarian romance? Check! All-white cast? Check ...) It's also refreshing for a movie to offer the possibility that older women can be with younger men (Johnson is 12 years younger than Fonda, and Garcia is 10 years younger than Keaton) and to cast acclaimed actors like Wallace Shawn, Ed Begley Jr., and Richard Dreyfuss in supporting roles.

The characters' various love stories are unevenly played out, with Keaton's and Fonda's the most traditionally romantic, Bergen's played for laughs (she finds her suitors through online dating), and Steenburgen's somewhat bittersweet except for a predictable sequence involving Viagra and its long-lasting effects. But it's not the romances that make this film watchable, it's the supportive relationships between the women. The dialogue is authentic -- as is the high amount of alcohol consumption associated with women's book clubs (it's unclear how the characters were functional at their jobs after drinking so much wine). Two of the best parts of the movie are the breathtaking California and Arizona locations and the nostalgic soundtrack, which ranges from Paul Simon and Meat Loaf to Tom Petty and Roxy Music.