Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

dr_salter Hey! I have been sitting watching the TV series "The Book Group" (2002) & thinking how much I love their sarcasm & wit. And now I have found that Annie Griffin directed an earlier series "Coming Soon" (1999) and 'The Book Group' (2002-3). Both series have that same brew of almost reality, where life is acted out through the comedic antics of the winners & losers within the screenplay.The tone of truly delightful, witty sarcasm and creamy cutting wit is the thing that I unwittingly connected with in both series, and it is the characters in 'Coming Soon' (1999) & The Book Group's characters' continuous unveiling of how they try to remain true to themselves, & FAIL GLORIOUSLY that brings out what I love about the two series. Gradually, we begin to get an idea of what is behind the characters' closed doors and understand that there could be a tenuous connection to what most people consider 'normal' but within these people there are many shades and depth of how we all try to connect with reality, maybe miss the mark, then struggle, but move onwards & upwards.You know I did not know till I checked IMDb! that "The Book Group' was connected to my old favourite series "Coming Soon". AND here it is! Sorry about all the exclamation marks !!! but I am SO elated to find Annie Griffin's gooey, blueberry coated finger in both wonderfully told tales of Scottish (Glasgow) extremist, eccentric behaviours. "The Book Group" brings us the great work of Derek Riddell as Rab: taciturn tracksuit wearer, who reveals little about himself, has stubble, and literally loves footballers. The wonderful James Lance (from TV's 'Absolute Power') as Barney Glendenning- pretentious, opinionated post-graduate student with blonde highlights & drug problem. Karen Kilgariff as Jean Pettengill Claire's awful, overbearing older sister, who arrives in Glasgow wanting to share Claire's exciting lifestyle and Rory McCann as the wheelchair bound Kenny. James Lance also plays Lachlan Glendenning- pretentious, bearded, bespectacled brother of Barney, who claims to be an installation artist. Their lives are wonderfully wacky and I recommend you all try to find them on DVD & see how great both series really are.

duckgirlie I really like this the first time, and have been staying up late to watch the midnight re-runs on Irish TV.I always liked this show, because of the (sometimes unbelievable) pretension of some of the characters, and the excellent acting throughout, particularly from Michelle Gomez, who I adore.And, aside from the stories, and the dialog, and the acting, what had me bouncing up and down in glee was that Dirka and Fist, when alone with their husbands, spoke their native languages. This pleased me no end, as I always find it slightly ridiculous when foreign characters speak English, even when alone.

bob the moo A lonely American girl living in Scotland advertises a book group in a local shop window to help her meet people. For the first meeting she has a strange mix of people arrive for the discussion. Kenny is a leisure center attendant in a wheelchair, Barney is a pompous English dope fiend, Fist and Dirka are Swedish football wives, Rab is a working class football fan and Janice is a football wife struggling to be seen as smart and as confident as everyone else. As the group gets to know each other better the characters come out more and the books provide only an excuse for the collage of feelings and experiences that are really exposed within the group.This started it's run in the slot of the brilliant Black Books. Channel 4 were keen to keep the laughing Friday night audience it had captured with Black Books and Fraiser and hence launched The book Group as a comedy similar to that other Book title. However the two have little in common except the word book. The Book Group was initially a disappointment – I spent the first ten minutes trying to laugh too hard, feeling I had to try because it was supposed to be wacky and hilarious. Once I got past this I found it was more comedy based on characters rather than surreal humour.This has actually made it more rewarding and the comedy is better because it is more liberally scattered rather than the scattergun approach of Black Books. But the real money here is the characters and their stories. We find out more and more about them each week and get more and more involved in their stories. I've just finished watching the first (but hopefully not only) series, but I won't talk too much about the stories as it may spoil it. But the characters get more detailed each week – some in surprising ways! It's a little stretched at times, but most of it works. Yes – the series may drift away from the actual reading of books for some episodes but then the actually discussing of books was never the focus of the programme anyway.All the cast are great – Dudek (also popping up in ER) is great as Clare – the first episode is an example of how she can play cool on the surface but let things bubble just beneath – and then explode in an emotional overflow. McCann is great as Kenny – able to display his frustartions and hurt (?) at his situation – but more so at the different ways he is treated, as a sex object by some and a object of pity by others. James Lance is great as the least likeable of the characters while Mulder and Engstrom are great as the football wives. Riddell is brave as Rab. Gomez is mixed as Janice – it's hard to tell. At first I thought she was poor because I thought she did a poor show of being confident – then I realised that was the point, then her breakdowns etc and her efforts to show everyone how smart she is come off really well.Overall it has it's weaknesses – but it has developed over the 6 shows and would be a welcome return for series 2.

azaro666 The premise is so simple that it would seem likely to be a snowballing success.The fact that the first episode was such a well structured, delicately written and well acted piece, meant that it appeared there was every possibility it could be a well thought through character study over a six week, or however long, period.Perhaps I am missing something as I have not read all the books that have so far been discussed by the group, but in any case the first episode was the only one that even touched upon the book at any level.Since then the programme has descended into the characters outside of the group. More about how they react in other environments and the experience that the book group may have had on them. The episodes appear to have been cut very harshly. There are great wapping gaps, with no explanation.The stuff about Kenny and Claire and the kiss has been forgotten. Barney and Claire and their immediate chemistry. The female obsession of Kenny's hands.It has to be said that the acting is very accomplished and it is a pleasure to see new actors proving their worth. Perhaps at the end of the run all of the loose ends will be tied up and it will make sense as a whole?Even so though it needs to be judged on each episodes merits, and doing that is so hard as each episode is so vastly different in genre and style.It feels like it should have been a two part series, just like Men Only which is one of the best things Channel 4 has ever shown.