Something Borrowed

Director: Luke Greenfield
Writers: Jennie Snyder Urman, Emily Giffin (author)
Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson
Release Date: May 6, 2011
Length: 1 hour 53 minutes

Based on the bestselling novel by Emily Giffin, Chick flick queens Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin star in the feared adaptation of Something Borrowed. The manipulated plot of the novel goes as follows. Two young women living in New York, Darcy and Rachel have been friends since infantry. One is smart and boring (Rachel). The other one is beautiful, impulsive and stupid (Darcy). What a surprise that Darcy always gets whatever she wants and Rachel never has enough confidence to say anything for herself. When a wedding and a guy get involved though, things could be altered from this unrealistic dull friendship. The only small part of the plot that you might not be able to predict is that Rachel met this boring gorgeous boy in law school, when they both obviously had cute 12 year old crushes on each other even though they are both in their mid-twenties. After months of both being too shy to say anything, Dexter (the boy) is introduced to the forward Darcy and she asks him out, snatching him away. This creates the done to death love triangle before a wedding, seven years later after Rachel and Dexter sleep together after a drunken birthday party. Both realize they still obviously have feelings for each other but don’t want to upset Darcy, who is naturally as oblivious as convenient to the story. How will these two uninteresting characters be together without upsetting the ditzy girl who is going to get her heart broken? Giffin’s successful novel did have prominent Chick Lit elements and although the basis of the story may have been a bit worn, the characters were intriguing enough to make it an enjoyable interesting read. It is of course absolutely necessary to make changes to a story of a book, to make it fit well on the screen. However as a reader of the novel, I can accurately say that Screenwriter Jennie Snyder Urman took every unique and original character, plot element and fraction of the novel that made it stand out and turned the story into the done-to-death romcom formula that the makers of this film feel is “safe” for the audience they are aiming at. There is no exaggerating in that everything I enjoyed about this novel was scrapped for being too outside the superficial “Chick Flick” box that no slightly light romantic plot can escape. For example, in the novel Rachel has a best friend Ethan (played by John Krasinski in the film), who lives in England. Although Rachel had a crush on him when they were little, the two have remained only friends and he supports her through her Dex or Darcy turmoil. In the film, he is Rachel’s best and only friend who – spoiler alert – randomly confesses his love to her near the end. This weird little plot twist goes nowhere and the characters forget about it in the next scene, making another three minutes of this film utterly pointless and faithful to, not the book, but the never-dying plot of every terrible romantic comedy in Hollywood. Probably the most intriguing part of the novel was the characters, which brought life out of this typical story. Everyone, including Darcy, was enthralling to read about in Giffin’s novel and literally everyone in the film brought zero interest out of me, excusing Kate Hudson’s funny one-liners. The characters were all turned into stereotypes that are apparently needed for a movie, or a movie like this. An example is the character of Marcus (played by Steve Howie), a laidback guy who goes on a few dates with Rachel and turns out to be a jerk. Marcus is the forced funny guy, specifically the absolutely ridiculous hippie-like womanizer in the film. John Krasinski, no matter what the character, is always cast as the cynical sardonic friend now. Although Hudson’s performance was actually one of her funniest, it’s sad that the character of Darcy became so two-dimensional on screen as well as Rachel just becoming a complete bore. The film makes the story focus on what’s supposed to be a real and strong friendship and just an attractive guy that is standing between them. Out of all the dull characters of the film, Dex is the one that I could not care less about. I don’t blame Colin Eggersfield, who played Dex, for the triteness of his character. I’m sure he, along with everyone else in the cast, is a great actor. However, Dex was strictly written to be the hot sensitive guy. In the novel, all three main characters are equally important and have full depth that makes it so much more interesting than this laughable adaptation. Something that really knocked the authenticity out of the story was making it appeal to 13-year-old girls who love romantic comedies. I’m not saying there should have been full frontal nudity, but an exciting moment in Rachel in Dex’s relationship should not have been when they first held hands. They’re not twelve. There are a million more things to rant and complain about this adaptation, but I think you know what I’m getting at. It’s safe to say, I do not recommend this film to anyone, not even people who thoroughly enjoy guilty pleasures because there is absolutely nothing rewarding about Something Borrowed.