Review of The Jane Austen Book Club

Let me start out by saying that I'm an avid fan of Jane Austen books - that in itself should say it all. But since most people (aka those who haven't read Jane Austen) won't understand this, I'll say it more bluntly. And to me, they might as well have called this movie the Soap Opera Fan Club, or the Jackie Collins Fan Club. The books were written in the early 1800's, people, not 2008. In none of Jane's books were there even hints of men cheating and leaving their wives, lesbians, or women who lust after men like dogs in heat. I'm sorry, but I must say that I feel it's misleading to portray to those who are clueless of Jane Austen, that she was just like today's Desperate Housewives type of modern woman. She was witty and funny, often ahead of her time, true, but this movie makes her books sound like they are what they really aren't. If the movie had been titled by another book club name I could've swallowed it. However, my tolerance for such Hollywood exploitation, most who have probably never even read classic literature, (the actors who were forced to read the book ahead of time by the director DOESN'T count) is absolutely zero.