I wish I had borrowed someone else's mind for the 112 minute viewing of Something Borrowed so I could give back the hard drive. I would also like to be reimbursed for time lost and emotional distress caused by false advertising.
A. Misleading Title: When something is borrowed the presumption is that it's going to be returned.
B. Misleading Trailer: Two best friends, one is getting married, the other kisses her fiance, a romantic comedy ensues, maybe some conflict, probably a happy ending.
Something is NOT returned, there is minimal romance and comedy, and NO HAPPY ENDING.
Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Darcy (Kate Hudson) are childhood friends. Rachel is the polite and sensible one, Darcy is loud and attention-seeking. Darcy gets engaged to dashing Dex (Colin Egglesfield), who was first Rachel's friend in law school. Sharing a taxi after the the engagement party, Rachel and Dex kiss and end up in bed. In the morning they realize that they're in love with each other and always have been. They decide not to say anything about what happened because, after all, Dex is set to marry Darcy. Well, for the aggravating remainder of the film, Rachel and Dex have an affair behind Darcy's back. Rachel ignores the advice of her best pal Ethan (Krasinski), to make Dex commit to her or end the 'relationship.' Dex tells Rachel he has to marry Darcy. Later on though he changes his mind and cancels the wedding. When Darcy runs to cry on Rachel's shoulder, she finds Dex with her and discovers the truth. Heartbroken, she never wants to see Rachel again. Months later the two cross each other on the street, say hey and go on their way, Darcy to a new life with someone else, Rachel around the corner to Dex, waiting for her on a bench.
I was seething with disgust for everyone in this film when it was all said and done. I especially wanted to slap Rachel, who was really a pathetic, desperate, cheating, lousy excuse for a friend. Yes, even though Darcy was not the nicest friend either, at least she was genuine. I have no sympathy whatsoever for the couple the writers presented us. Are we, the audience, supposed to want Rachel and Dex to end up together? Are we supposed to sympathize with them? If you do you're an idiot.
Me, I'm not for idiocy. Idiotic is what Something Borrowed really is. I just didn't see the point of the film. Do these things happen in real life? Probably. But just because it happens in real life doesn't mean we want to see it on the screen. There's no redeeming value to Something Borrowed. Did I learn anything? No. Did I laugh out loud? No. Did I 'Awww, that is so sweet' which I expect to do when I watch what I expect to be a romantic comedy? No. Did I laugh then cry? No.
In conclusion if you can't do it like Shakespeare don't write us problem plays. You'll only give us a problem.
Boos:
Title
Premise.
Dialogue.
Characters.
Conclusion.
Only Yay:
John Krasinski.
*Aside* It's A Thin Line Between Love and Friendship? What does that mean?
2 comments:
Hmmm. I liked the book a lot (as did thousands of other people since it's a NYT bestseller and was the breakout book for the author). And the movie stays mostly to the book. And I thought it was brave of them to tackle such a sensitive subject head-on, albeit Rachel was a lousy friend. But I totally see why someone would be upset if they expected a typical (in my opinion boring) Hollywood romance novel. I tend to avoid the "I know how this ends before it starts" romance novels with sappy conclusions. I liked that this is a tangled, not so nice mess - very much like real life. I wish more American films went in this direction. But that's just my opinion. Not at all discrediting your dislike for the film.
This film was so... for lack of a better word... stupid. First of all this movie has already been done, it's called My Best Friends Wedding, except it was done SO MUCH BETTER. And yes, John Krasinsky is hilarious but they even managed to make him look like a douchebag idiot too, especially toward the end.
bad bad bad... and I can't believe I paid 12 bucks to find that out.
Obviously, I wasn't impressed.
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