By
Steve Herte
Book
Club (Paramount, 2018) – Director:
Bill Holderman. Writers: Bill Holderman, Erin Simms (s/p).
Stars: Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen,
Andy Garcia, Craig T. Nelson, Don Johnson, Alicia Silverstone,
Richard Dreyfuss, Ed Begley, Jr., Wallace Shawn, Tommy Dewey &
Kate Aselton. Color, Rated PG-13, 104 minutes.
A pale version
of Golden Girls without the great lines and superb
delivery, it’s not the laugh riot it was hyped up to be. It was on
my back burner waiting for a weekend when no block busters were
opening, but I’m glad I saw it. I would never compare it to one of
the funniest television shows ever and I would not expect this cast
to be hilariously funny. But they were themselves and they were
wonderful.
The character
development at the beginning was comprehensive and brief enough to
get one to know each of the four major roles. Vivian (Fonda) is a
successful career woman and owner/manager of a hotel. She enjoys her
freedom and has no time for romance – doesn’t even think about
it. Sharon (Bergen) is a Federal Court Judge who has been deeply
involved with her work for fifteen years after her divorce. Carol
(Steenburgen) is a successful chef whose husband Bruce (Nelson) is
recently retired and who spends more time tending to his motorcycle
than his wife. And Diane (Keaton) who lost her husband recently is
now getting used to a big house and her two over-caring daughters
Jill (Silverstone) and Adrianne (Aselton) who believe it would be
safer for Mom to live with them in Arizona.
This quartet of
savvy women meet monthly for their Book Club and each in turn choose
a book to read. This month it’s Mary’s turn and she brings out
“50 Shades of Grey.” At first the reaction is reticence and, in
Sharon’s case, disgust, “I shouldn’t even be touching this
book.” But they all read it, (and the sequels) and all realize
there’s something missing from their lives. Vivian has a chance
meeting with Arthur (Johnson) a man she hasn’t seen in 40 years and
they begin a see-saw relationship. Diane meets and literally falls
over Mitchell (Garcia) on the plane to Arizona and the slow blossom
of romance opens in spite of her daughters’ preferences.
Carol decides to try
various methods to relight the spark in her marriage, including
appearing in the garage in her first waitress costume and (after
checking with Vivian) spiking Bruce’s beer with Viagra. Several
funny scenes follow that debacle, beginning with a police stop on the
street when Carol and Bruce’s argument result his car swerving
drunkenly. The three others convince Sharon that she needs to find a
man and she goes to an online dating site where she meets George
(Dreyfuss). There’s something there, but both feel awkward and it
doesn’t seem to work out. Then, on another date with Derek (Shawn)
they run into Sharon’s ex-husband Tom (Begley Jr.) who’s fiancée
Cheryl is decades younger than he (talk about awkward!) and Tom and
Cheryl invite Derek and Sharon to her son’s engagement party.
It’s an emotional
roller-coaster ride for all four women and sophisticated fun for the
audience. There are only two laugh-out-loud scenes, but that doesn’t
matter. It was a great cast doing their best at being people who need
a change and are almost clueless as to how to bring about that
change. Candice Bergen does some sly comedy with a totally straight
face. Diane Keaton just reverts to her Annie Hall days and it works.
Jane Fonda almost plays the Rue McClanahan role from Golden
Girls but without the southern drawl. The movie made me
laugh and cry. The Wow factor was there but was so subtle I nearly
missed it. The soundtrack added to the comedy with the
juxtapositioning of songs with the mood of the scenes. I thoroughly
enjoyed it.
Rating: 4 out of
5 Martini glasses.
McGettigan’s
70 West
36th Street, New York
This place has been
on my radar for a long time both for its non-pub menu and for its
location – easy to get to from 42nd Street and
8th Avenue. What I didn’t know until a week ago was
that I knew the manager, Phaedra, who has been coming to karaoke on
Tuesday nights. I never asked what she did for a living. She was
absolutely delighted to see me and my dinner companion.
From the street,
McGettigan’s cannot be missed. Being a warm evening, the front
windows were open to the street. Inside, there were a number of
tables with high chairs (not my style) and four semi-circular booths
with cushioned banquettes – all occupied. Just past the bar on the
left however was a circular, mini lounge area made to look like a
neat wood pile of birch logs. A fireplace was built into the wall of
logs midway and three tables with leather cushioned arm chairs filled
the remaining space. I liked it.
The cocktail list
had several intriguing concoctions. I ordered the Porn Star Martini –
Vodka, passion fruit liqueur, passion fruit juice, and a shot of
Prosecco. The pink drink looked electric pink in the red light. It
was sweet and tart at the same time, exotic and bubbly once I poured
the Prosecco in.
We were both
interested in the soup of the day until it was announced by our
server, Isidro, to be Creamy Vegetable Soup with toasted bread. I
ordered it but my companion and cream soups don’t get along. It was
indeed a hearty serving of genuinely creamy soup with good sized
pieces of carrots, string beans, potatoes and other vegetables. The
thinly-sliced bread had been grilled-toasted and was a nice addition.
When my second
appetizer arrived, my friend was served Fish and Chips, the dish he
uses to compare pubs. The chips were hefty steakhouse fries “triple
fried,” a little salty and probably could have been cooked a fourth
time. They weren’t crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
The fish had a slight sauce migration problem. The filets were tasty
but the oil inside had made the crispy coating wet and less
appetizing.
My Pork Belly
Popcorn was fried in soy honey and dusted with sesame seeds. They
were wonderful, chewy but tender, with a definite Asian accent, but I
knew I would have to take most of them home if I was going to finish
my main course.
On the menu the 12
Ounce Rib Eye Steak with Portobello Mushroom, overnight confit
tomato, tobacco onions, and triple cooked chips (the same ones that
came with the Fish and Chips) caught my eye. I ordered it knowing I
would compare it to my benchmark steakhouse. Isidro asked how I liked
it cooked and I told him. He understood me, but the chef did not. It
was nowhere near blackened and crisp on the outside and only a little
pink on the inside. It was a tasty steak otherwise with more than a
little gristle to cut off. The rings of tobacco onions were the
topping for the meat and were lovely. The baked tomato was halved and
perfectly cooked.
I ordered a nice
glass of Cabernet to help with the meal but I was getting sated fast.
I had Isidro pack up the remainder of the steak and the pork and went
straight to coffee, black. (They don’t have an espresso machine.) I
complimented it with a glass of Jameson’s Irish whiskey as an after
dinner drink.
What was really
funny about the whole experience is that I told my friend I was
literally starving before the meal. But the portions were more than
even I could handle on an empty stomach, and I have a trencherman’s
reputation.
For the Dinner and a Movie archive, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment