The Jane Austen Book Club
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: September 21, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Chick Flick indeed! Guys, take your best buddy to see this movie. Tell him, "It's really cool, dude, even though there aren't any eviscerations." Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
For a visual bonus, Hugh Dancy appears in bike shorts as the lone male Jane-ite. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneTasha Robinson
Overall, The Jane Austen Book Club is an admirable mix of heady and fluffy, the kind of wish-fulfillment fantasy that needn’t make filmgoers ashamed of what they wished for. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The entire enterprise ultimately seems designed to turn Austen into a self-help guru. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
This is Austen lite, but pleasantly so. You can hardly fault a movie that fashions itself around a consummate writer whose keen sense of humor and gift for fully realized characters have resulted in countless screen adaptations. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
An enjoyable if fairly predictable film. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Neither trite nor pandering, and that's what makes the film better than most of its peers. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
The domestic and romantic turmoil all gets resolved a bit too neatly to seem realistic, but realism isn't the goal; this is comfort food, plain and simple, and achieves its modest goals in nearly effortless fashion. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The film's characters are lively, the women all look terrific (the guys do too, for that matter), and its many romantic story threads weave into artfully told tales of love lost and found. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis Harvey
Cast is first-rate all around, unafraid to play up the annoying, insensitive or self-pitying aspects of their nonetheless likeable characters. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Swicord has a playful sense of humor and a good ear for dialogue, and the movie pleasantly accomplishes what it set out to accomplish. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Such a well-acted, literate adaptation of Karen Joy Fowler’s 2004 best seller that your impulse is to forgive it for being the formulaic, feel-good chick flick that it is. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Everyone is given their due and dignity in this funny, sexy, humanist film that, if it is a chick flick, gives the genre a good name. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Swicord has enough savvy to conjure up a terrific cast that compensates for her rote direction. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The film comes across like a soap opera and there are too many characters and storylines for any one of them to grab the heart and imagination. The film isn't painful but it is disappointing. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
Worth watching primarily for Blunt, the delicious scene-stealer from "The Devil Wears Prada." Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
There are no surprises here, in other words, but there aren't supposed to be: This is a comfort film, the on-screen equivalent of mac and cheese - though with a splash of truffle oil to class things up. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The novels remain a witty portrait of life; this flick is just a study in preciousness. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Those who know Austen novels will recognize how much each character resembles a figure in one of them. Those who do not will enjoy the amusing types. Men, this means you. Read full review
60
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Perfectly pleasant, perfectly undistinguished adaptation of a market-driven novel about six Sacramento lovelies trying to mend their stalled or broken lives while massaging each other's feet. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
Quite a nice little relationship comedy-drama, but essentially for an audience of what the French charmingly call ‘women of a certain age’. Totally not the Superbad set, then. Read full review
58
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
First-time director Swicord brews an atmosphere of geniality and warmth and brings a modicum of momentum to a happily discursive book. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
There's no subtext to The Jane Austen Book Club, just a skim across the books' surface that winds up re-shelving a great author into the self-help section. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
It's a lot like a pumpkin spice frappuccino with extra sugar and extra cream. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll leave with foam on your nose. So cute. As a friend said on the way out: At least no books were harmed in the making of this movie. And he's right. But that's only because no one really tried. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Being male, I can't relate to this at all; on the other hand, I don't need Midol either, but I'm glad it's on the market. Read full review
50
PremiereRyan Stewart
Ultimately, The Jane Austen Book Club amounts to little more than a lukewarm collection of half-realized rom-com scenarios not fleshy enough to warrant their own movie. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Though it’s as estrogenic as dong quai, this amiable adaptation of Karen Joy Fowler’s eponymous bestseller about six friends and their book club is thoughtfully rendered with a certain universality of spirit – in that sense not unlike the books of Jane Austen herself. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
It's almost impossible for a movie to go irrevocably wrong during the opening credits, but the ceaselessly irritating The Jane Austen Book Club does just that. Read full review
More From This Movie

61 Critic Reviews

6.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL