Book Club(2018)

Plot Summary

• Diane (Diane Keaton), Vivian (Jane Fonda), Sharon (Candice Bergen) and Carol (Mary Steenburgen) are four lifelong friends who, many years earlier, began a book club. They meet once a month and each member takes a turn picking the book they are going to read that month.Years earlier, Vivian had a relationship with Arthur (Don Johnson), but when he proposed, she dumped him. Since then, she never got married, but instead has brief flings with random men. Carol is currently married to Bruce (Craig T. Nelson), but is saddened that they have not been sexually intimate in months. Diane is recently widowed. Sharon is recently divorced.At the start of the current month's book club, Vivian is tasked with picking the next book. She chooses 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. The others, particularly Sharon, are not happy about having to read it, but they reluctantly choose to.Vivian ends up running into Arthur again, after many years. He's recently divorced and he asks Vivian out. Still attracted to him, she accepts and they have a date.On a plane to go see her daughters, Diane meets Mitchell (Andy Garcia) and they hit it off. Sharon begins online dating after seeing that her ex-husband, Tom (Ed Begley, Jr.) met his current fiancé, Cheryl, online. Carol begins to get into the book and begins to try different things to get Bruce's attention, but he is preoccupied with fixing an old motorcycle of his that he found in the garage.As the four finish through the first book, the start on the sequel, 'Fifty Shades Darker'. Diane ends up meeting Mitchell again on a flight and finds out that he's a pilot. He gets her phone number for a future date. Sharon goes on her first online date and meets George (Richard Dreyfuss), a tax accountant. They have a nice date and at the end of the night, he asks if he can kiss her, since he's not sure if she'll want to see him again for another date. They kiss and it is then revealed that they slept together in the back of her car.Carol begins trying other things, such as dressing in her old waitress outfit and using innuendos about handcuffs to try to get Bruce's mind on being intimate with her, but he still does not get the hint. They eventually have a brief argument in the driveway about how all she wants to do is to have sex with him, startling some neighbors walking by. He says that his mind isn't on that and Carol says that they haven't been intimate since Bruce's retirement party, where they tried, but were unable to.Vivian continues to see Arthur and on one date, she falls asleep in his arms. This breaks one of her rules, where she says that she does not sleep with men after they are intimate with her. So, she decides to stop taking Arthur's calls.Sharon goes on another date, this time with Dr. Derek (Wallace Shawn). She sees Tom and Cheryl there and gets embarrassed when Derek introduces himself and then mentions that Sharon looks better than her profile picture. After the date, Sharon goes online and deactivates her account.Meanwhile, Carol is out on a date with Bruce. At the bar, she slips a Viagra pill (that she received from Vivian) into Bruce's beer and he ingests it. Later on, they are driving home and Bruce is furious with her. They are arguing when they are pulled over by a police officer. The female officer tells Bruce to get out of the vehicle, but he advises that that is probably not the best idea. She again tells him to get out of the car and Carol explains what she did to the officer. Bruce gets out of the vehicle and the officer notices that he has an erection, affirming Carol's story. She tells them to have a good night and winks at Carol.Back at their house, Bruce and Carol continue to argue about the situation. Carol doesn't tell Bruce that this was all as a result of her reading the Fifty Shades books. Bruce yells at Carol, telling her that all these events that she signs them up for, she never mentions it to him. She just signs them up, mentioning a couple's dance class that they are currently involved in. He tells her that he never wanted to be a part of that. Carol says that she signs them up for these things, so that they could remain close as a couple.Diane continues to see Mitchell, but keeps the relationship a secret from her daughters, Adrianne (Katie Aselton) and Jill (Alicia Silverstone). Both daughters, especially Adrianne, are concerned that because of Diane's age, she could fall or hurt herself and both want her to move to Arizona, where they live. Diane does not want to move, because she would have to leave her friends behind. One weekend, Diane is staying at Mitchell's and does not notice her phone ringing. Adrianne is trying to reach her and begins to worry when her mother does not pick up the phone. After a few hours, Adrianne calls the police, who is able to track the phone to Mitchell's. Adrianne, Jill, Adrianne's husband and the police arrive at Mitchell's to see her mother and Mitchell, snuggling in the pool. Diane goes back to Arizona with her daughters, where they convince her to move there permanently.Arthur confronts Vivian about avoiding his phone calls and he professes his love for her, telling her that she's the only one that he wants to be with. He tells her that he's going to New York and wants her to go with him, but Vivian rejects him. The next day, Diane, Sharon and Carol find Vivian in her bed, having cried herself to sleep. They convince her to go after Arthur, since they can tell that she really does love him. She tries to get to the airport, but traffic prevents her from getting there in time.Diane and Sharon go to a dance recital that Carol is supposed to be in with Bruce. Since they had their argument, Carol begins dancing alone, but there's a miscommunication and the wrong song plays. Carol begins dancing anyway and Bruce arrives midway, but joins her onstage and they reconcile after the show. That night, Vivian goes back to her place and finds Arthur there. She tells him that she does love him and they kiss.Diane packs up her stuff in a U-Haul and goes to Adrianne's house. While there, she realizes that she's making a mistake and tells her daughters that she's not a child, that she can make her own decisions. Both Adrianne and Jill realize that their mother is not happy, so they wish her well. Diane drives to Mitchell's. He asks her about the U-Haul and she says that's her overnight bag.Sharon goes back online and reactivates her dating account. She clicks on George's profile, implying that she's going to begin a relationship with him.

Storyline

• Four longtime friends and book club members--Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen--have their lives upended when they aim to spice up their mundane routines by reading the provocative bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey. With newfound confidence, they each begin to come alive as exciting romances are ignited and old flames are rekindled. Through it all, the ladies inspire one other to make this next stage of their lives the best and steamiest thus far. Four women have attended a monthly book club for thirty years, where they bond over the suggested literature. Vivian, who owns and builds hotels, runs into Arthur, a man she turned down marriage to 40 years prior. They begin a flirtation, but Vivian has always refused to settle down because she enjoys her independence. Diane is recently widowed, and her daughters would like her to move closer to them in Arizona because they perceive her to be in danger because she's living alone. Sharon is a federal judge who's been single since she divorced her son's father over 15 years ago. Carol has a successful marriage to Bruce, who has recently retired but they have recently lacked intimacy. One day, they read Fifty Shades of Grey and are turned on by the content. Viewing it as a wake up call, they decide to expand their lives and chase pleasures that have eluded them. While flying to visit her daughters in Arizona, Diane meets Mitchell and they strike up a relationship, though Diane is hesitant because of how recently her late husband died and because she hasn't dated in decades. Vivian spends more time with Arthur, but because of her fear of commitment, she tries to keep him at a distance.. Angelenos Carol, Diane, Sharon and Vivian, in addition to being longtime best friends, comprise a book club formed by Diane thirty years ago, they who meet monthly to drink wine and discuss the book of the month chosen on a rotating basis by each of the four. When Vivian chooses Fifty Shades of Grey, the women are steered in the direction of examining their own sex, romantic and love lives as they move into the latter stages of their lives. Executive chef Carol is trying to insert spice into her marriage to her husband of thirty-five years Bruce, Carol who still craves intimacy and sex, both now non-existent, as Bruce, who she knows still loves her, seems more interested in other things besides her since his retirement six months ago. Widowed less than a year ago, Diane, whose marriage was a loving and stable one, is now coddled by her two Scottsdale residing adult daughters, Adrianne and Jill, who treat her more as a helpless child than their capable mother, and who want her to move into Adrianne's basement suite so that they can better take care of her. As such, Diane feels the need to hide from them that for the first time since being widowed, she has met a man, airline pilot Mitchell, who she may want to be a big part of her future if he is given the opportunity. Federal judge Sharon has been divorced for eighteen years from Tom, and while she doesn't miss him, she misses what he represented to her as demonstrated by the fact that she has not had sex with anyone else in all those years. Her three friends egg her on to explore the sometimes treacherous world of online dating. And hotelier Vivian has never looked for love in feeling such would impede her independence as she is content with her life with a proverbial stableful of casual sexual partners. Vivian is reunited with New York residing Arthur, a former lover, when he checks into her hotel. While Arthur seemingly tries to steer their new relationship into a serious one, Vivian in turn tries to maintain what she considers her sense of freedom and independence. — Huggo