You have the sense and sensibility that it could have been more penetrating than it is.
There's an occasional zinger of a line, but by and large "The Jane Austen Book Club" is a fairly even-keeled affair, with no real peaks and no real valleys. Tonally, the straight line it sails is in keeping with those comedies of manners. But in terms of wit and insight into male-female relationships, it's not nearly on the same level as Austen . . . or "When Harry Met Sally," for that matter.
Video:
The 1080p picture (MPEG-4 transfer, 1.85:1 aspect ratio) looks a little light on the black levels to me, especially in exterior scenes that throw a little atmospheric confusion into the lighting mix. There's also a little "nervousness" in those instances. Color is about what Sony gave viewers with "Hitch"--a natural-looking but not terribly saturated picture. The detail also didn't pop out with the kind of 3-dimensionality you get with some of the better Blu-ray transfers.
Audio:
The featured soundtrack is an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, which certainly seems sufficient given that almost all of the film (with the exception of the background music) is talk. But the sound editing seemed a bit off, with the dialogue competing with the music on several occasions. Rear speakers had little to do here, but as I said, it's almost all talk. Unless people are talking behind our backs, what use are the FX speakers? Additional soundtrack options are French Dolby TrueHD 5.1, and Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai, and Korean.
Extras:
The best bonus feature, without a doubt, was "The Book Club Deconstructed," which I recommend watching before you turn on the movie. In it, you'll get a sense of the heady business at hand, which is nice because unless you're fully acquainted with Austen you might not pick up on the fact that the book club members are behaving like characters. I also recommend watching "The Life of Jane Austen" before the film. It's a nice, condensed bio-overview that nicely sets the stage and features a number of talking heads from the Austen world.
A "Behind the Scenes" featurette has a few interesting moments, including that this group had only 30 days to shoot an ambitious movie. One of the most fun segments has Blucas telling about his audition and describing how as he walked away from it the director and assistant came literally running after him. Red carpet watchers will enjoy the L.A. premiere, but it's all photo-op stuff, for the most part.
Finally, the cast and crew commentary is worth listening to. It features Swicord with her editor Maryann Brandon, producer Julie Lynn, and stars Dancy and Grace. It's quite the lively track, with zero dead air and plenty of overlapping dialogue. In fact, this commentary is one of those that will have you appreciating the film more than you do at first watching.
Bottom Line:
"The Jane Austen Book Club" is a by-the-numbers (or rather, by-the-characters) film that's entertaining but ultimately disappointing, because you have the sense and sensibility that it could have been more penetrating than it is.
Video:
The 1080p picture (MPEG-4 transfer, 1.85:1 aspect ratio) looks a little light on the black levels to me, especially in exterior scenes that throw a little atmospheric confusion into the lighting mix. There's also a little "nervousness" in those instances. Color is about what Sony gave viewers with "Hitch"--a natural-looking but not terribly saturated picture. The detail also didn't pop out with the kind of 3-dimensionality you get with some of the better Blu-ray transfers.
Audio:
The featured soundtrack is an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, which certainly seems sufficient given that almost all of the film (with the exception of the background music) is talk. But the sound editing seemed a bit off, with the dialogue competing with the music on several occasions. Rear speakers had little to do here, but as I said, it's almost all talk. Unless people are talking behind our backs, what use are the FX speakers? Additional soundtrack options are French Dolby TrueHD 5.1, and Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai, and Korean.
Extras:
The best bonus feature, without a doubt, was "The Book Club Deconstructed," which I recommend watching before you turn on the movie. In it, you'll get a sense of the heady business at hand, which is nice because unless you're fully acquainted with Austen you might not pick up on the fact that the book club members are behaving like characters. I also recommend watching "The Life of Jane Austen" before the film. It's a nice, condensed bio-overview that nicely sets the stage and features a number of talking heads from the Austen world.
A "Behind the Scenes" featurette has a few interesting moments, including that this group had only 30 days to shoot an ambitious movie. One of the most fun segments has Blucas telling about his audition and describing how as he walked away from it the director and assistant came literally running after him. Red carpet watchers will enjoy the L.A. premiere, but it's all photo-op stuff, for the most part.
Finally, the cast and crew commentary is worth listening to. It features Swicord with her editor Maryann Brandon, producer Julie Lynn, and stars Dancy and Grace. It's quite the lively track, with zero dead air and plenty of overlapping dialogue. In fact, this commentary is one of those that will have you appreciating the film more than you do at first watching.
Bottom Line:
"The Jane Austen Book Club" is a by-the-numbers (or rather, by-the-characters) film that's entertaining but ultimately disappointing, because you have the sense and sensibility that it could have been more penetrating than it is.
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