Movie review: On the whole, it's an inviting 'Club'

"The Jane Austen Book Club" inspires emotional tumult beneath the calm exterior of a sensible film critic. Passionate admiration of the film's performances duels with recognition that said performances occur in a highly predictable chick flick.

Should one go with one's heart? Or heed societal and familial demands (back off, Mom!) for a more clear-headed, pragmatic appraisal? Or perhaps incorporate both, in the best Austen fashion?

Since the film features several interesting female characters along with a well-rounded male character -- a rare combination -- it's easy enough to overlook the hokey parts and focus on the likable, satisfying whole.

Set in Sacramento but filmed in the Los Angeles area, this adaptation of the novel by Davis' Karen Joy Fowler appears to take place in an Anywhere, California, of chain coffeehouses and plentiful underground parking. One could squint and guess that a character lives in east Sacramento and another in midtown, but why risk the headache?

The point isn't the specific setting but Austen's continued relevance in this modern world. Director Robin Swicord introduces just enough hustle and bustle to demonstrate that the romantic joys and negotiations found in Austen's plots can survive in any era or setting. Even one in which women have jobs.

Dog breeder Jocelyn, to whom actress Maria Bello lends great warmth along with a prickly stubbornness, avoids romantic entanglements while encouraging them in others. She long ago let her best friend, Sylvia (Amy Brenneman), date her ex-boyfriend, Daniel (Jimmy Smits). The pair's subsequent, long-term marriage seems blessed up to the moment Daniel dumps Sylvia in a manner that makes Mr. Darcy seem ultrasensitive by comparison.

Brenneman engenders great sympathy without going for cheap emotion. Ambushed by Daniel's confession of an affair, Sylvia wobbles but doesn't fall apart.

Brenneman and Smits bring authenticity to a scene in which Sylvia runs into her ex and the new girlfriend outside a supermarket. Flummoxed, Daniel tries to block Sylvia's view of the other woman while explaining that he rarely shops on this side of town anymore. That the awkwardness is two-sided shows that Daniel isn't as callous as he first appears.

But men who see "The Jane Austen Book Club" probably will prefer computer geek Grigg (Hugh Dancy) as their male representative in this estrogen-fueled enterprise. The only man in a fledgling Austen book club whose members include Jocelyn, Sylvia and Sylvia's college-age daughter, Allegra (Maggie Grace), Grigg is sensitive but no pushover.

Being male in this book club requires resolve. A sci-fi fan whose unwieldy Austen anthology immediately marks him as a newbie among veteran Austenites, Grigg doesn't help matters by wearing cycling outfits to book-club gatherings.

Jocelyn finds Grigg dorky but keeps him around, ostensibly as a distraction for Sylvia. This story line extends far past plausibility, but Bello and Dancy help keep it interesting. Dancy's ebullience endears him to viewers just as Grigg's resilience eventually wins over the book group.

All the actresses get chances to shine, including the reliable Kathy Baker as the eccentric, much-married doyenne of the book group. Grace, though saddled with clunky story developments involving her character -- a lesbian and a daredevil, respectively -- brings gravity to a scene in which Allegra relates a revealing story from her childhood.

It seems that a movie featuring such a large, accomplished cast wouldn't lend itself to scene-stealing. But if "The Jane Austen Book Club" will be remembered in 10 years, it will be for Emily Blunt's ("The Devil Wears Prada") multilayered performance as Prudie, a high school French teacher who fancies herself more intellectual than everyone else.

Blunt lends Prudie enough vulnerability to keep her compelling when acting superior, insulting her seeming dimwit of a husband (Marc Blucas, keeping his chin up quite nicely) or considering a dalliance that's beyond inappropriate. When the film wraps up its various story lines with tidy bows, Prudie's resolution touches most.

The Jane Austen Book Club

3 stars

CAST: Maria Bello, Amy Brenneman, Emily Blunt, Hugh Dancy, Jimmy Smits, Kathy Baker, Maggie Grace, Lynn Redgrave, Kevin Zegers and Marc Blucas

DIRECTOR: Robin Swicord

WRITERS: Swicord, from a novel by Karen Joy Fowler

DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures Classics

THEATER: Tower

106 minutes

Rated PG-13 (language, mature thematic material, sexual content, drug use)

About the writer:

• Reach Carla Meyer at (916) 321-1118 or cmeyer@sacbee.com. Listen to her discuss the week's movies Friday afternoons on NewsTalk 1530 (KFBK). Back reviews at www.sacbee.com/meyer.