Book Club

Four lifelong pals (Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen) feel the stirrings of dormant libido when their monthly book club takes up Fifty Shades of Grey. Make no mistake, it’s great to see these four working together, good sports and consummate pros that they are, but the fact remains that they’re shoveling crap, and it’s insulting. The script is a mélange of lame jokes about menopause, plastic surgery, Viagra and online dating, plus a huge slab of naked product placement (pun intended) for E.L. James’ steamy novel. It’s aimless, contrived and clichéd, betraying the inexperience of writers Erin Simms and Bill Holderman (who also directed, limply; he’s new to that too). Escorting the ladies to this senior prom are Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, Richard Dreyfuss and Craig T. Nelson.