Book Club: The Next Chapter review – four go mad in Italy in excruciating comedy sequel

This sequel to the 2018 romantic comedy reunites the four lifelong friends – Viv (Jane Fonda), Diane (Diane Keaton), Sharon (Candice Bergen) and Carol (Mary Steenburgen) – who in the previous instalment revamped their reading habits and their autumn years by tackling Fifty Shades of Grey in their monthly book group. Five years and a pandemic later, the ladies reconvene to learn that avowed singleton Viv has finally agreed to get married. What better excuse to take a hen party excursion to Italy?

Accompanied by a Wall’s Viennetta of a score comprised of synthetic, Italian-flavoured easy listening, the chums soak up the culture of Rome, Venice and Tuscany by the bottle. If anything, the writing in this chocolate-box travelogue of a sequel is even lazier than that of the first film, with much cackling innuendo and sparkly narcissism, a couple of clumsily engineered long-distance domestic crises and interminable heartfelt speeches that made me cringe so hard I nearly dislocated my spine.