Book clubs are a romantic idea.

The reality is, at least in my experience, somewhat removed.

Firstly, the deadline for reading the novel tends to come around more quickly than you realise.

Rather than idly stirring a soup pot, or watering plants and leafing through the pages of a novel, I find myself furiously reading the chosen book ahead of our monthly dinner catch-ups.

Every free moment is dedicated to finishing that book in time!

Perhaps this is generational - a working woman’s problem - rather than the characters with seemingly endless time in Book Club.

My book club is also the most wide-ranging group of women you can imagine.

We really bonded over our mutual love of books and reading, and over time, have started to share with one another the stories of our lives.

I really doubt I would have met this disparate group otherwise, as we have differing views and life experiences in most things.

I guess it is testament to the power of a good story: We can all share in their beauty, anguish and the telling.

The book series at the heart of director Bill Holderman’s film is 50 Shades of Grey, which seems to throw a much-needed sizzle grenade into the otherwise mundane lives of four middle-aged friends.

Friends since college, the women meet monthly to share stories from their lives and the shelves.

The turtle-necked Diane (played by fabulous Diane Keaton) is recently widowed after forty years of marriage and is molly-coddled from afar by her anxious, overbearing adult children (Alicia Silverstone and Katie Aselton).

Hotel magnate Vivian (the irrepressible Jane Fonda) is rich, outrageously dressed and enjoys no-strings attached sex.

Sharon (Candace Bergen) is a federal judge with a beautiful pussy (cat) and a prudish approach to sex.

Although they were divorced years ago, her husband has recently become engaged to a much younger woman in Hawaii.

Sharon remains wedded to her high-flying job and is too busy for connection.

Meanwhile, Carol (Mary Steenburgen) is trying to pull her marriage out of a rut without putting two-and-two together about her husband’s recent retirement (read big life-changing event) and it’s impact on their lives.

When Vivian bursts into their monthly book club catch-up with a copy of 50 Shades of Grey, the others variously roll their eyes.

However, the saucy read initiates a sequence of romantic encounters.

As the women follow Annastasia Steele’s sexual exploits between the book covers, they all start getting variously hot under the collar.

Nervous flyer Diane meets suave pilot Mitchell (Andy Garcia) on a plane trip to visit her children.

Vivian has her world rocked when Arthur (Don Johnson), whose marriage proposal she turned down as a young woman, suddenly bursts back into her life.

Sharon finally joins an online dating website and has a much-needed awakening.

Things don’t go so well for Carol, who tries desperately to spice up her marriage.

Cue a series of hilarious innuendo-laden interactions with her oblivious husband Bruce (Craig T Nelson), who discovers his old fixer-upper motorbike and seemingly everything but his desperate and horny wife.

Book Club is a fun and cheeky B-grade comedy.

It’s not breaking new ground, but it’s always great to see films about female friendships and books that bring in the laughs and the heart.