Snagging a (taken) groom

Published Jul 8, 2011

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Something borrowed

DIRECTOR: Luke Greenfield

CAST: Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield, John Krasinski, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ashley Williams, Steve Howey

CLASSIFICATION: 13M L

RUNNING TIME: 113 minutes

RATING: **

Something Borrowed is a fairly predictable rom-com which, yes, borrows heavily from just about every rom-com involving a wedding that could go wrong.

This time around we get nice girl Rachel (Goodwin) who realises she is in love with her best friend’s fiance. She was the one who introduced fellow lawyer, handsome, moneyed, Dex (Egglesfield) to long-time friend Darcy (Hudson) while they were all still at university.

She stood back to let pretty, vivacious Darcy have her way – which is how their relationship seems to work most of the time – but now that she really can’t have Dex, Rachel has finally decided to do something about this torch she has been carrying around for years.

Kate Hudson borrows heavily from her Bride Wars character. While the premise of the film is slightly similar to My Best Friend’s Wedding, that film cast the potential bride in a sympathetic light. While you wanted Julia Robert’s to get the guy, you didn’t want it to be at the expense of the sweet character played by Cameron Diaz.

Here though, Darcy is a self-absorbed, slightly bitchy character so the sympathy definitely falls in Rachel’s court. Still, Rachel is so blegh. It’s like Rachel’s sole reason for existing is to make Darcy feel better about herself and you just want to shake both of them and say “catch a wake up call”.

Egglesfield is great eye candy, but his character is a bit of a wet blanket. He has enough gall to play both women, but not the balls to just come clean and make a decision.

Rachel’s best friend Ethan (Krasinski) though is having none of that and Krasinski and Goodwin actually have a much more natural chemistry than she does with anyone else. A definite highlight to the film is the beach scene where Ethan tries to force the issue and Darcy unwittingly plays along.

They waft around the Hamptons (“The Hamptons are like a zombie movie directed by Ralph Lauren,” best line courtesy of Ethan), and the best spots and beautiful apartments of New York in designer wear and pretty shoes, and really, why should anyone care?

So, while it is morally on murky ground at one point, the film never goes off in its own direction and all the characters are such worms: spineless, sappy, squirmy, soft, squishy… you get the picture.

If you liked… The Switch or Bride Wars… you will like this.

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