Six Californians start a club to discuss the works of Jane Austen, only to find their relationships -- both old and new -- begin to resemble 21st century versions of her novels.
Jane Austeni raamatuklubi (2007) Online
Explores Austen's adage that general incivility is at love's essence. Sylvia's husband dumps her for another woman, so Bernadette and Jocelyn organize a book club to distract her. They recruit Sylvia's daughter Allegra; Prudie, a young teacher whose marriage may be on the rocks; and Grigg, a sci-fi fan who joins out of attraction to Jocelyn. The six read and discuss one Austen novel per month. Jocelyn tries to interest Grigg in Sylvia; Allegra falls in love with a woman she meets skydiving; Prudie contemplates an affair with a student; Sylvia's ex keeps popping up. In the discussions, characters reveal themselves in their comments. By the end, are truths universally acknowledged?
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
 | Maria Bello | - | Jocelyn |
 | Emily Blunt | - | Prudie |
 | Kathy Baker | - | Bernadette |
 | Amy Brenneman | - | Sylvia |
 | Maggie Grace | - | Allegra |
 | Jimmy Smits | - | Daniel |
 | Ed Brigadier | - | Pastor |
 | Kevin Zegers | - | Trey |
 | Marc Blucas | - | Dean |
 | Catherine Schreiber | - | Academic Woman |
 | Ned Hosford | - | Waiter |
 | Hugh Dancy | - | Grigg |
| Messy Stench | - | Girl with Dog Collar |
| Chris Burket | - | Skydive Instructor |
 | Parisa Fitz-Henley | - | Corinne |
Each cast member was required to read the said book they had to discuss in the picture.
Although they play teacher and student, Emily Blunt is only a year older than Kevin Zegers.
The website address www.laughing-allegra.com written on Allegra's jewelry-kit-box (which she brought to the first meeting of the book club at Starbucks) actually links to the official site of the film.
The role of the SA Spurs obsessed character dean was cast to Marc Blucas who played college basketball with the star player Tim Duncan. This was in the novel and not rewritten for Marc.
The character played by Hugh Dancy talks about the Buffy contingent at the sci-fi convention. Marc Blucas played Riley Finn on Vampiiritapja Buffy (1996) for 2 seasons.
The order of the books are: - February: Emma - March: Mansfield Park - April: Northanger Abbey - May: Pride & Prejudice - June: Sense & Sensibility - July: Persuasion.
If you look closely at the coffee cups during the first meeting at Starbucks you can see the characters names written on the cups. The most obvious is Prudie's.
The real volume of the complete works of Jane Austen was more expensive than the production could afford to buy. Instead, a volume of Shakespeare plays with a fake cover was used. Hugh Dancy was reading these and he says in the DVD commentary that he got all the way through the histories and tragedies during the shoot.
In Allegra's hospital room during the Sense & Sensibility book club meeting, she is wearing the purple scarf that Bernadette is seen knitting during the Emma and Mansfield Park book club meetings.
Kathy Baker was originally cast as Sky, Prudie's mother.
Amy Brenneman and Jimmy Smits both appeared on the TV show NYPD Blue.
User reviews