Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Book Club – The Next Chapter review says grab your besties, hit a happy hour at your favorite restaurant, then sit back and laugh along with four game gals in Italy. 

I’m an avid fiction reader. I devour novels in my very limited spare time, generally averaging about one a week. I read so much in so many different genres, every once in a while I just need to sit down with a little something light, amusing and comforting. It doesn’t have to be great literature, just so that it warms my heart and makes me smile.

You guessed it, I feel the same way about film. Sci-fi, fantasies, thrillers, musicals, romcoms, animation, dramas—I love them all, but every now and then I’m grateful for something light, amusing and comforting, with characters/actors that give me a giggle or two. Book Club – The Next Chapter is exactly that.

I find it impossible not to be engaged by Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen, Diane Keaton and Jane Fonda playing a group of intelligent women who have been friends since college and are finally able to see each other in person after Zooming for months.

Fonda’s character, committed singleton Vivian, is finally getting married to fellow hotel entrepreneur Arthur (Don Johnson), so the comely quartet decides to go to Italy for a bachelorette trip.

Director Bill Holderman (Book Club) takes a leisurely pace and shows respect for his esteemed leading ladies, without being afraid to poke fun at the characters’ various eccentricities. The film is not free of stereotypes, but they’re not offensive to those of us who are aren’t too distant from the demographic.

For all the jokes you see coming about aging and traveler naiveté, you may not anticipate the pleasant plot twists until they’re right upon you. Or the fashion. There are some lovely sartorial surprises.

Surely you weren’t expecting Academy Award worthy performances from a light hearted comedy about a group of 65+ best friends on a road trip to Italy? What you can expect is a good excuse for a girls’ night out at the movies, and a craving for pasta and prosecco.

Rated PG-13

1 Hour 47 Minutes

If this Book Club – The Next Chapter review encourages you to grab your purse and saunter over to your local cineplex, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Book Club – The Next Chapter review says grab your besties, hit a happy hour at your favorite restaurant, then sit back and laugh along with four game gals in Italy.