Synopsis
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.
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Something Borrowed is a bold movie when it comes to trying to get your audience to understand that near infidelity can be ‘okay’ sometimes. It’s a difficult situation to present to the general public, but if the story and the characters are developed well enough you can pull it off; and that’s the catch with this film. Director Luke Greenfield and writer Jennie Snyder took the popular book from Emily Giffin and did their best with the translation. The book has a far better sense of how unhappy both Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Dex (Colin Egglesfield) are with their current lives, and an even better sense of how much happier they would be together. It’s so vital to make sure that particular point in the story is stronger than any other point. And it’s not impossible for a movie to replicate such a thing, as it happened in Walk the Line. So how did Something Borrowed translate this situation from the book by the same name?
Regretfully, not as well as it should have.
Greenfield and Snyder did a great job with setting up the situation in the film, as you get a frumpy, unhappy look into Rachel’s life from the very beginning through an opening surprise birthday party for her. The party defines how much she isn’t a socialite and how much she has focused on her work, instead of her love life. You also get a strong sense of how lopsided her relationship is with her best friend Darcy (Kate Hudson) through a very ‘Darcy’ led slideshow at Rachel’s birthday party. The problems start cropping up from the get-go, as you know that you’re suppose to despise Darcy and wish her fiancée
Dex would leave her for Rachel, but she isn’t unlikeable enough to despise; that creates the first big issue with the story. I’m not sure if it was a Kate Hudson issue, but while Darcy is obnoxious she certainly isn’t someone that I wish bad things on.
Now, as the story progresses, you get further and further into the reasoning of why Rachel loves Dex. You are presented with miss opportunities and pretty much the entire building of Rachel and Dex’s relationship through a series of flashbacks. I love that they did it this way, as it makes for an easier time with explaining their situation without really affecting the present day story. Eventually, the couple decide to get together and create something. At which point, the problem isn’t that they’ve created something they both want (true love in a sense), the problem still lies with Darcy. Again, even though she’s enormously obnoxious in the film, you won’t get to the point where you wish she was cheated on. Towards the middle of the film Darcy’s character starts to slowly become the victim in the love story, which is not how it should be. The story seems a bit lost, much like the love between our two main characters, and seems incredibly imbalanced. John Krasinski’s Ethan is placed in there to try to balance the wobbliness of the love story, but he ends up being more likeable than Colin Egglesfield’s Dex. At one point you’ll wish he gets Rachel, as he has her best interest in mind.
The story never recovers from this imbalance, as Darcy isn’t ‘unlikeable’ enough to wish bad things on, even after the big reveal at the end. As a result, Rachel and Dex’s relationship isn’t as powerful as it needs to be to push past the stigma of cheating. They never quite reach that level of love like what was reached in Walk the Line.
With all this said, give credit to the actors/actresses for giving their best in a very difficult story. I hope to see Ginnifer Goodwin and Colin Egglesfield in more films. I do wish John Krasinski would get a big time role in a major film, as he’s just so much fun to watch onscreen.
Shifting gears, the Blu-ray portion of this film helped with the story. Rachel’s transformation from frumpy, workaholic to a beautiful bird that can fly on her own was magnified thanks to HD. Her looks, clothes and way of life is detailed through bland dark clothes and a shoddy haircut. I mean no offense to Ginnifer Goodwin, but the HD portion of her character looks beautifully awful at the beginning of the story. As she begins to become happier, and more independent, you get brighter clothes, better lit environments around her and just a sense of real change through visuals. HD magnifies this change so well, and Warner Home Video did a great job with making sure the change was obvious, but not overwhelming. The movie as whole looked great in HD, as there was no graininess, artifacts or color banding issues. The scenes out in the Hamptons really looked gorgeous, especially when Rachel and Ethan have their slight showdown. On top of this, the audio is beautifully mastered to DTS-HD 5.1, which just compliments the video very well.
Just like Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Warner Home Entertainment excels with the Blu-ray/HD transfer process with their films.
As for the special features, here’s what you’re getting:
– Something… Old?
– On Location Tours with Emily Giffin
– Marcus’s Guide to the Ladies
– What is “Something Borrowed”?
– Left Off the Guest List: Additional Scenes
– Gag Reel
The features included with this release compliment it very well. You get some perspective from the actors about turning 30 and their thoughts on ‘something borrowed’ as a wedding custom, a great discussion and insight from author Emily Giffin, and a wonderful guide to ladies presented by the wacky character Marcus (Steve Howey — pleasant part of the film). In addition to these features you also get a gag reel and additional scenes. Again, the features compliment the main feature pretty well, which is always good when you’re trying to stick with the central theme of the main film. Warner Brothers did a great job adding these.
Something Borrowed is available on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, On Demand and for Download 8/16 http://bit.ly/pIatHe
