Safe, comfy ‘Book Club: The Next Chapter’ offers more of the golden girls together, this time in Italy

The makers of “Book Club: The Next Chapter” know what their audience wants.

Director Bill Holderman and his co-writer, Erin Simms, got all the proof they needed when their 2018 comedy, “Book Club” — starring four beloved actresses over 65 as friends who read “Fifty Shades of Grey,” which unearths some desires in them — earned more than $100 million at the box office.

Thus, it’s understandable that Holderman and Simms stick to the formula with “Book Club: The Next Chapter,” which arrives in theaters this week and takes the mostly fearless foursome of Jane Fonda’s Vivian, Diane Keaton’s Diane, Candice Bergen’s Sharon and Mary Steenburgen’s Carole to Italy.

“The Next Chapter” is a second serving of broad, frequently sexually charged humor and low-stakes drama. Most important the aforementioned formula is the deep female friendship that keeps the group together and on the move — it’s tons of hugs and a bit of tough love.

And we get it.

Sure, we’d have liked some zippier dialogue and a more inventive plot, but this movie is, quite appropriately, rather unconcerned with our wants and needs.

We pick back up with our gals early on in the pandemic, as they struggle with video-conferencing software, one of them turning herself into a potato. But they stay in contact and talk about Glennon Doyle’s memoir, “Untamed.”

They also use the extra me time to take on something new. For Carol, it’s … the accordion?

Eventually, pandemic restrictions are lifted, with Carol pushing for them to make good on a vow they made in their 20s to go together to Italy. They have the perfect reason: a bachelorette party for Vivian, who has just become engaged to Don Johnson’s Arthur. There is reluctance from both the single, retired Sharon and the typically tentative Diane, who’s in a committed relationship with Andy Garcia’s Mitchell.

Of course, Carol gets her way, which for her means leaving behind husband Bruce (Craig T. Nelson), who is recovering from a recent heart attack and is on certain restrictions. (In one of the film’s more endearing moments, she catches him via a security camera enjoying bacon while she’s a continent away.)

Once the women are running, er, fast-walking rampant in Italy, we are treated to the mildly risque jokes — they crack wise while viewing nude male statues, and you’ve probably heard Vivian’s “amuse bouche” zinger from the trailer — and others about their ages.

“I love anything that’s falling apart more than I am,” Sharon says about Italy.

We go shopping for a wedding dress for Vivian, during which many dresses are tried on — and by more than the bride-to-be. (The one sported by Diane is, like, soooo Diane Keaton. It’s perfect.)

So, sure, it’s enjoyable to spend time with Viv, Sharon, Carol and Diane, thanks largely to Fonda (“Grace & Frankie”), Bergen (“Murphy Brown”), Steenburgen (“Melvin and Howard”) and Keaton (Annie Hall), respectively. The characters are wholly relatable even if we specifically cannot relate that much to them.

That said, their dialogue is drastically overwritten by Holderman and Simms. While the point of these movies is to hang out with the women — to feel as if they’re actually OUR friends — it still could be tighter.

We wish, too, that we got a bit more of the returning Nelson (“Parenthood”), Johnson (“Miami Vice”) and, especially, Garcia (the “Father of the Bride” remake), but, in fairness, the story doesn’t really allow for much more than bookending appearances of those engaging gents. (And for the record, it’s still strange to see Keaton and Garcia — aunt and nephew in 1990’s “The Godfather Part III” — playing a couple, but we’re working to get past it.)

The makers of “Book Club: The Next Chapter” know what their audience wants.

Director Bill Holderman and his co-writer, Erin Simms, got all the proof they needed when their 2018 comedy, “Book Club” — starring four beloved actresses over 65 as friends who read “Fifty Shades of Grey,” which unearths some desires in them — earned more than $100 million at the box office.

Thus, it’s understandable that Holderman and Simms stick to the formula with “Book Club: The Next Chapter,” which arrives in theaters this week and takes the mostly fearless foursome of Jane Fonda’s Vivian, Diane Keaton’s Diane, Candice Bergen’s Sharon and Mary Steenburgen’s Carole to Italy.

“The Next Chapter” is a second serving of broad, frequently sexually charged humor and low-stakes drama. Most important the aforementioned formula is the deep female friendship that keeps the group together and on the move — it’s tons of hugs and a bit of tough love.

And we get it.

Sure, we’d have liked some zippier dialogue and a more inventive plot, but this movie is, quite appropriately, rather unconcerned with our wants and needs.

We pick back up with our gals early on in the pandemic, as they struggle with video-conferencing software, one of them turning herself into a potato. But they stay in contact and talk about Glennon Doyle’s memoir, “Untamed.”

They also use the extra me time to take on something new. For Carol, it’s … the accordion?

Eventually, pandemic restrictions are lifted, with Carol pushing for them to make good on a vow they made in their 20s to go together to Italy. They have the perfect reason: a bachelorette party for Vivian, who has just become engaged to Don Johnson’s Arthur. There is reluctance from both the single, retired Sharon and the typically tentative Diane, who’s in a committed relationship with Andy Garcia’s Mitchell.

Of course, Carol gets her way, which for her means leaving behind husband Bruce (Craig T. Nelson), who is recovering from a recent heart attack and is on certain restrictions. (In one of the film’s more endearing moments, she catches him via a security camera enjoying bacon while she’s a continent away.)

Once the women are running, er, fast-walking rampant in Italy, we are treated to the mildly risque jokes — they crack wise while viewing nude male statues, and you’ve probably heard Vivian’s “amuse bouche” zinger from the trailer — and others about their ages.

“I love anything that’s falling apart more than I am,” Sharon says about Italy.

We go shopping for a wedding dress for Vivian, during which many dresses are tried on — and by more than the bride-to-be. (The one sported by Diane is, like, soooo Diane Keaton. It’s perfect.)

So, sure, it’s enjoyable to spend time with Viv, Sharon, Carol and Diane, thanks largely to Fonda (“Grace & Frankie”), Bergen (“Murphy Brown”), Steenburgen (“Melvin and Howard”) and Keaton (Annie Hall), respectively. The characters are wholly relatable even if we specifically cannot relate that much to them.

That said, their dialogue is drastically overwritten by Holderman and Simms. While the point of these movies is to hang out with the women — to feel as if they’re actually OUR friends — it still could be tighter.

We wish, too, that we got a bit more of the returning Nelson (“Parenthood”), Johnson (“Miami Vice”) and, especially, Garcia (the “Father of the Bride” remake), but, in fairness, the story doesn’t really allow for much more than bookending appearances of those engaging gents. (And for the record, it’s still strange to see Keaton and Garcia — aunt and nephew in 1990’s “The Godfather Part III” — playing a couple, but we’re working to get past it.)