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Five women (and one man) form a book club with the goal of reading a different one of Jane Austen’s six novels each month. They soon discover the author’s celebrated tales of 19th Century romance have unexpected parallels to their own contemporary relationship struggles. Maria Bello (“A History of Violence”), Emily Blunt (“The Devil Wears Prada”), Amy Brenneman (“Judging Amy”), Hugh Dancy (“Elizabeth I”), Maggie Grace (“Lost”) and Kathy Baker (“Cold Mountain”) star.

Big question: Does the directorial debut of screenwriter Robin Swicord conjure up the same female-ensemble magic that highlighted the best of her writing efforts (“Little Women”)?

Skip it: What a frustrating waste of a talented cast. Nearly all of the women are downright insufferable as they slowly move towards painfully obvious realizations about love and relationships. The lone exception: Baker’s free-spirited Bernadette. But, as the oldest member of the group, she exists primarily to give advice to the others about their relationships instead of engaging in a full-fledged storyline of her own.

Catch it: While the women annoyingly agonize over their romantic options, Dancy unexpectedly steals the show as the lone male member of the club. He’s charming and funny in a breakout performance. The only downside is that his character is too nice to deserve settling down with any of his neurotic love interests.

Bottom line: Between this and the recent underwhelming “Becoming Jane,” it hasn’t been a good year for Austen-inspired filmmaking. Maybe it’s time to let the literary legend rest in peace.

Bonus: Bello and Dancy meet cute at a hotel that happens to be hosting a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” convention, which wouldn’t be quite so weird if “Buffy” co-star Marc Blucas didn’t also have a role in the movie as Blunt’s hapless husband.

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