Not-So-Plain Jane

The old, tiresome adage "the more things change, the more they stay the same" can be aptly applied to the writings of Jane Austen. The English novelist whipped up stories in the late 1700s and early 1800s about romantic woes, financial strains, finding a happy medium between the head and the heart, and daring to dream. Centuries later, in the early 2000s, her words still resonate and echo, sometimes ad nauseam.

"The Jane Austen Book Club" is the third film in two years to channel the long-gone-but-clearly-not-forgotten author (the excellent "Pride and Prejudice" came out in 2005, followed by 2007's nowhere-near-excellent "Becoming Jane"). This latest spin, written and directed by Robin Swicord and based on the novel by Karen Joy Fowler, takes Austen-esque principles and gives them a home within an ensemble romantic comedy set in modern-day California. And the surprising thing is - wait for it - it actually works.

You don't have to be an Austen junkie or even a woman to enjoy this endlessly charming film about six people launching a book club to discuss Jane's six novels in six different locations (666?). The members are: Jocelyn (Maria Bello), a strong-willed woman who prefers her dog to men; sensitive Sylvia (Amy Brenneman) and her adventurous gay daughter Allegra (Maggie Grace); the married-many-times Bernadette (Kathy Baker) who is full of life and opinions; Prudie (Emily Blunt), a French high school teacher with dreams of one day actually visiting France; and Grigg (Hugh Dancy), the group's sole XY chromosome-sporting member who generally reads sci-fi books.

These interesting, diverse characters make "The Jane Austen Book Club" a lot more fun than you might expect. For all his sweet, clumsy geekiness, Grigg is impossible not to fall in love with; it's just too bad that Jocelyn, in full Emma-mode, is obliviously hellbent on fixing him up with Sylvia. And while we may like all the characters, they don't all share such fuzzy feelings for one another - it's amusing to watch uptight Prudie and carefree Allegra butt heads on a few occasions, while Bernadette sits in the background snooping, knitting.

The clever script by Swicord, dabbed with the banter-as-foreplay touches found in Austen's books, along with quite a bit of snark ("Reading Jane Austen is a freaking minefield!" exclaims Jocelyn during one session), never grows tired or forgets that it's a comedy. Even when tackling some heavier issues (Prudie struggles with marrying the wrong guy, Sylvia thought she was happily married until her husband just up and left), the film stays mostly breezy and pleasant.

The word "lightweight" could be used to describe "The Jane Austen Book Club," and that's truly not an insult. Life is hard enough … sometimes it's nice to just kick back and watch something far less serious than reality and with the added bonus of multiple happy endings. Why the heck not?