Dir. Robin Swicord, US, 105 minutes, colour, 35 mm. In The Jane Austen Book Club, five women and one man lead lives that seem torn from the pages of Jane Austen's novels as they discuss those writings in a book club in a California suburb. 'What would Jane do' becomes a rule for behavior in this comedy adapted from the bestselling 2004 novel by Karen Joy Fowler.

The Jane Austen Book Club should rally the author's fans to yet another Austen-themed movie and draw the many readers of Fowler's novel.

If the audience for Oprah Winfrey's book club and the public for films featuring women older then35 are added to the mix, the potential could be huge.

Most of the audience will be in English-speaking countries, but the movie should travel as least as widely as the novel did.

The trifling film's performance in the marketplace may also give some sense of the limits of Austen-mania, if there are any.

Robin Swicord directs the film of her script as a ronde, an ensemble piece that rises and falls depending on which of the iconic women's frustration has the floor.

Cynthia (Amy Brenneman) has just been told by Dan (Jimmie Smits) that their 20-year marriage is over, and Jocelyn (Maria Bello) is as determined as Jane Austen's Emma to find Cynthia a man to fill the void in her heart.

That man turns out to be the boyish Grigg (Hugh Dancy), a goofy affable computer geek who agrees to read Jane Austen to win Jocelyn over. Prudie (Emily Blunt) is a pretentious French teacher (with an unattentive husband) who has never visited France but has eyes for a high-school student.

Cynthia's lovely lesbian daughter, Allegra (Maggie Grace), falls in and out of love overnight. And on and on.

Swicord's script injects energy and some wit into the novel's bland prose, although she's no Jane Austen.

Often the ensemble dialogue echoes support group talk, and the film's happy ending may convince some that Austen-ism is the next fad in pop therapy - if they haven't already reached that conclusion.

The film's rare appealing moments are provided by some of its cast of high-profile actors. From Bello's first scene as a grieving dog owner at a pet funeral that could only happen in California, she pulls you in as a needy woman approaching middle-age and attending to everyone besides herself.

Dancy is appealing as the silly boy who's much smarter and more noble than the older women (who see only his youthful body) are willing to believe.

DoP John Toon and production designer Rusty Smith conjure up an utterly believable leafy Cal-environment of fine food and credulous consumers of self-improvement.

Can Jane Austen save the world, or just one well-appointed kitchen where women sip Chardonnay each week as they leaf through Pride And Prejudice and other books' Austen can't be any worse than the latest diet or therapy craze. Maybe some of the public will wander back to the books for the real thing.

Production Companies/Backers

Mockingbird Pictures

John Calley Productions

US Distributor

Sony Pictures Classics

International Sales

Producers

John Calley

Julie Lynn

Diana Napper

Co-Producer

Kelly Thomas

Associate Producer

Lisa Medwid

Screenwriter

Robin Swicord

Cinematographer

John Toon

Original Music

Aaron Zigman

Production Design

Rusty Thomas

Editor

Maryann Brandon

Principal Cast

Maria Bello

Hugh Dancy

Amy Brenneman

Jimmie Smits

Maggie Grace

Emily Blunt

Kathy Baker

Mark Blucas

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