Rating: PG-13
Starring:
Ginnifer Goodwin as Rachel
Kate Hudson as Darcy
Colin Egglesfield as Dex
John Krasinski as Ethan
Steve Howey as Marcus
Ashley Williams as Claire
Geoff Pierson as Dexter Thaler Sr.
Jill Eikenberry as Bridget Thaler
Jonathan Epstein as Professor Zigman
Directed by Luke Greenfield
Special Features:
Something…Old?
On Location Tours with Emily Griffin
Marcus’s Guide To The Ladies
What Is “Something Borrowed”?
Left Off The Guest List: Additional Scenes
Gag Reel
Other Info:
Widescreen (2.40:1)
DTS-HD Master Audio Sound
French Language
French and Spanish Subtitles
Running Time: 112 Minutes
The Details:
The following is the official description of the film:
“It’s a thin line between love and friendship.
Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) is a generous and loyal pal to her engaged best friend Darcy (Kate Hudson). But after celebrating her 30th birthday, perpetual good girl Rachel unexpectedly ends up in the arms of Dex (Colin Egglesfield), the guy she’s had a crush on since law school . . . and who happens to be Darcy’s fiancé. In the frantic weeks leading up to Darcy’s wedding, Rachel finds herself caught between her long-time friendship with Darcy and the prospect of losing the love of her life. Based on Emily Giffin’s bestseller, this funny and touching romantic comedy also stars John Krasinski as Rachel’s constant confidante and conscience, who busily evades the affection of one of Darcy’s lovestruck friends while harboring a secret crush of his own.”
“Something Borrowed” is rated PG-13 for sexual content including dialogue, and some drug material.
Mini-Review:
I fully acknowledge that I’m not in the target audience for “Something Borrowed.” I’m not female, I’m not around age 30, and I didn’t read the book by Emily Giffin. But I was willing to give it a shot. I like Kate Hudson and John Krasinski and I figured if they were in it, it might be worth checking out. I also viewed this film with my wife to make sure I didn’t judge it unfairly. Unfortunately, in the end, I didn’t think it was a very good romantic comedy.
First of all, the premise is set up quite early in the movie. Rachel, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, admits to Dex, played by Colin Egglesfield, that she has had a crush on him since they were students in law school. Dex admits he had feelings for her, too. The problem? Dex is engaged to Rachel’s childhood friend Darcy. OK, so that’s an interesting conundrum. The problem arises when the rest of the 112 minute running time is Dex and Rachel agonizing over their mutual attraction and Darcy repeatedly nearly finding out. It makes the film really repetitive. Then, when the inevitable love triangle is exposed, the resulting confrontation is extremely unsatisfying.
Matters aren’t helped by the fact that practically every character in the movie is unbearable. Dex is repeatedly called extremely handsome and extremely sexy, yet he’s not that good looking. (I reconfirmed that with my wife just to make sure.) Dex also repeatedly strings Rachel and Darcy along. He never takes a stand and either breaks off the engagement or goes along with it. This also happened to irk my wife. She perceived Dex as being unfaithful to Darcy and basically thought he was a cheating dog through the entire movie… which he was. So that didn’t endear her to him. The story also makes Darcy out to be a selfish, egotistical slut who repeatedly pushed Rachel down to make herself look better… which she did. I suppose that was an effort to help justify Rachel’s actions. But that’s the other problem… Rachel cheats with Dex. So despite all the claims of love, she’s a bit of a backstabber, too. Throw in the fact that she and all the characters whine about how OLD 30 is and the characters eventually find a way to get on every last nerve you have.
On the bright side John Krasinski as Ethan is pretty funny. His best moments feature him trying to dodge the affections of Ashley Williams as Claire. He goes so far as to try and convince Claire that he’s gay and that has some amusing consequences. But if you’re a fan of Krasinski you’re going to be disappointed to hear that he’s not in the movie all that much. Steve Howey is also amusing as Marcus, the stereotypical horny male and the only remaining prospect for Rachel. If these are the leftovers, it’s a little understandable why Rachel feels desperate.
In the end “Something Borrowed” is a movie that fans of the book are probably going to love while general movie-going audiences will only find it mediocre. I’d recommend you pass on this and find something else that has more universal appeal as a date movie.
There are a few brief bonus features included on this Blu-ray. Most of them are under 5 minutes long. There’s a gag reel, a few minor deleted scenes, and some short ‘making of’ featurettes. The most notable bonus feature for me was a featurette showing author Emily Giffin meeting with some of her Facebook fans and taking a tour of the shooting locations in New York City. Despite my distaste for the movie, Giffin comes across as likable and it’s pretty cool that she’s so interactive with her fans online.
