Emily Giffin wrote the novel upon which the new movie Something Borrowed is based. Giffin writes books that explore flawed characters but somehow through her writing skills she makes readers accept the flaws and still enjoy the story. The movie was not successful in translating the story and all we got was a trio of flawed characters who were unlikable. This in turn made the movie less than enjoyable.
Kate Hudson plays Darcy, a completely egotistical woman who uses her friends for her advantage and never considers their feelings. Ginnifer Goodwin plays Rachel, her supposedly best friend, who never says no to Darcy about anything. She even gives her friend Dex (Colin Egglesfield) to her even though she is madly in love with him. It seems whatever Darcy wants, Darcy gets.
Rachel's best friend Ethan (John Krasinski) tells her she is an idiot and she ought to let Dex know how she feels. Rachel is torn between doing what's best for her and doing what is best for Darcy.
Darcy comes off as totally self-centered in the film. Rachel is just a doormat for her friend. Dex is Mr. Indecisive and a wimp. Ethan is the only one who seems to be an admirable person. With the main three characters projected as losers, it is hard to find any reason to like the movie. If they had used some of the subtleties Giffin had in her book then they might have found their way out of this mess.
Hudson does a good job of making Darcy totally self-obsessive. She seems to have been born to play this part. That either says a lot about her acting talent or her personality. Goodwin has that "deer in the headlights" look as she lets Hudson's character mow her down. Egglesfield has a smarmy look to him and never comes across as sincere in either his relationship with Darcy or his relationship with Rachel.
There are some fairly funny moments especially from Steve Howey and Ashley Williams as two people on the fringe of Darcy's circle. Plus you can enjoy some of the lighter scenes as you wait for the movie to get better. It doesn't.
The movie is rated PG-13 for language and sexual situations.
This is one of those cases where the charm of the book gets lost in its translation to a screenplay. It looked like a sure-win project but everything just fell apart before it hit the big screen.
I scored "Something Borrowed" a something blue 5 out of 10.
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