candice bergen – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

BOOK CLUB: THE NEXT CHAPTER – Review by Susan Granger

May 22, 2023May 22, 2023 Susan Granger Bill Holderman, Book Club: The Next Chapter, candice bergen, diane keaton, jane fonda, mary steenburgen

Club: The Next Chapter – lazy screenwriting undercuts the best intentions of a quartet of highly competent actresses who have – collectively – earned four Oscars, six Emmys and 13 Golden Globes. This sequel to the 2018 Book Club comedy reunites Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen as lifelong friends who decide to celebrate the end of their zoom calls during the pandemic quarantine with a fun-filled trip to Tuscany. These talented sightseers deserve better than this briefly anecdotal fluff, filled with clichéd PG-13 double entendres.

Reviews

BOOK CLUB: THE NEXT CHAPTER – Review by Nadine Whitney

May 11, 2023May 12, 2023 Nadine Whitney Bill Holderman, Book Club: The Next Chapter, candice bergen, diane keaton, jane fonda, mary steenburgen

The overall romanticism of the film will work for some audiences, and where the comedy is obvious there are moments that are generally delightful. Director Bill Holderman and Erin Simms’ original script for Book Club wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was something that really cared about giving older women some form of empowerment. Their work on Book Club: The Next Chapter seems more focused on cashing in on the success of the first film than really investigating the lives of the women they had the audience invest in the first time around. Beautiful scenery and accomplished actors pulls Book Club: The Next Chapter over the line, and it will charm a certain demographic, but it is a disappointing sequel to Book Club and its by-the-numbers approach really doesn’t do anyone any favors.

Reviews

AS THEY MADE US – Review by April Neale

March 31, 2022March 31, 2022 April Neale As They Made Us, candice bergen, Dianna Agron, Dustin Hoffman, Mayim Bialik, Simon Helberg

As They Made Us is an emotionally resonating and deeply piercing film about learning to forgive, accepting that your parents are flawed human beings just as anyone else, and becoming more strengthened and wiser as you make your way in life, a finite journey for us all. Director Mayim Bialik’s intimate dramedy is a filmed snapshot of a dysfunctional family’s journey at the end of life. Bialik’s film underscores that time will heal, that having an adult understanding of the hurts we bury deep in our psyche is not our fault. And that letting go and forgetting past injuries to the heart and soul sometimes can be the best medicine anyone will take.

Reviews

LET THEM ALL TALK – Review by Diane Carson

December 29, 2020December 30, 2020 Diane Carson candice bergen, dianne wiest, let them all talk, meryl streep, steven soderbergh

Director Steven Soderbergh takes a casual approach in his latest film, Let Them All Talk. In fact, so casual that his cast improvised the lion’s share of the interactions, spontaneously expressing what they thought and felt. When the three central actresses are Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, and Dianne Wiest, that’s not too risky a venture, though conversations often meander.

Reviews

LET THEM ALL TALK – Review by Karen Gordon

December 18, 2020December 19, 2020 Karen Gordon candice bergen, dianne wiest, let them all talk, meryl streep, steven soderbergh

There’s a lot more going on than meets the eye in Steven Soderbergh’s wise and deceptively breezy new film Let Them All Talk. The film centers around Alice (Meryl Streep) a successful Pulitzer Prize winning author. She’s working on a new novel, and her publisher, represented by her eager-to-please new agent Karen (Gemma Chan), is hoping that it’s a much longed-for sequel to her prize-winning novel You Always/You Never.

Reviews

LET THEM ALL TALK – Review by Susan Granger

December 11, 2020December 12, 2020 Susan Granger candice bergen, dianne wiest, hbo, let them all talk, meryl streep, steven soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh turns a transatlantic crossing into three talented actresses in search of a script. Mercurial, manipulative Alice Hughes (Meryl Streep) is an acclaimed author who journeys to London to receive a prestigious literary award. Since she doesn’t fly, she’s booked on Cunard’s luxurious Queen Mary II and allowed to invite several guests to accompany her.