In retrospect, this film would have been unwatchable in a theater. It was definitely the type of movie that you needed to do something else while you watched it. It's a movie where the analytical side of your brain kicks in almost immediately. It is a movie that I watched when Mike was out of the house. It is a movie that gives "chick flicks" a bad name.
The basic premise of the movie is: Two women are best friends from childhood. One of the women (Ginnfer Goodwin) is sweet; one (Kate Hudson) is selfish and wild. Darcy, the selfish and wild friend, is about to marry Dex (Colin Egglesfield), a man that Rachel met in law school. Dex and Rachel realize that they love each other and have an affair. Throughout the film, Rachel's friend, Ethan (John Krasinski) counsels her on what to do.
One thing I hated about this movie is how they tried to redeem Dex and Rachel. Their affair was fine, because they are actually sweet, honorable people, while Darcy is a cartoon train wreck of awful. Dex's romantic rival in the film for Rachel, Marcus (Steve Howey), is ludicrous. I don't know why they often feel in these movies that they have to stack the deck so much against the other characters so that they can get their happy ending, and we are supposed to feel all right with how everything happened.
I also wish they had cast this film differently. I felt that John Krasinski was wasted in the part of the sympathetic friend. I would have liked to have seen him as the romantic lead. Colin Egglesfield really did nothing for me in that role. When I saw him on screen, I found myself thinking about teeth whiteners. He seemed like a flat surface to me.
I had just seen "Bridesmaids" again a few days ago, and it made me think about how both films looked at women who had been best friends since childhood. In "Bridesmaids," the bond felt real. It felt like the women genuinely had fun together, that they did have memories that were precious to them, and that they could really talk to one another. In this film, it felt like neither one of them genuinely cared about the other, that is was mostly jealousy, neediness, and resentments flying around, that they didn't have a fundamental love of one another.
The movie had the standard cliches, the revelation while walking in the rain, the women breaking out in a dance routine when they're together, and the good girl wears glasses.
I watched the whole darn thing while I did something else, thinking, "Why am I still fooled into thinking that I will like these romantic comedies? Why are these actors that I like—I'm talking to you, Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, and John Krasinski—signing on to these scripts? How does this writer get her book optioned?"
In the end, "Something Borrowed" becomes a cautionary tale. Just don't go there.
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