Something Borrowed


2.5/4

Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield, John Krasinski

Rated PG-13 for Sexual Content including Dialogue, and Some Drug Material

The standard romantic-comedy follows a fairly strict formula: the two lovers meet and fall in love, are torn apart by complications, and get back together in the end.  Since the goal of a romantic comedy is to get the viewer to fall in love with the characters, plot is of little importance.  “Something Borrowed” gets this right, but there are some BIG problems.

Rachel (Goodwin) is your average nice girl.  She’s pretty, nice to a fault, and her life’s goal is to make everyone happy, especially her best friend Darcy (Hudson).  Lately, she’s gotten feelings for her friend Dex (Egglesfield), and the feeling is mutual.  The problem?  Dex is engaged to Darcy, and the wedding date is fast approaching.

The most important part of a romance is the one that most romantic comedies get wrong: the leads have to have chemistry.  Talent and star power mean nothing unless the lovebirds click.  “Something Borrowed” is a rarity in the sense that it gets this part absolutely right.  The chemistry between Rachel and Dex is present from the very beginning, and it doesn’t take long for it to catch fire.  We want these two to end up together.  So much so, in fact, that it almost succeeds in getting us to look past its serious problems.

The first problem is that the film is way too long.  A good romantic comedy needs only 90 minutes or so to get the job done.  Shave ten minutes of scenes where Rachel is happy until she sees Dex then flees, and it would be a whole lot better.

The second problem is that two of the supporting characters are incredibly annoying.  After wowing the world in “Almost Famous,” a role that should have won her the Oscar, Kate Hudson has proven time and again how limited her range is.  This is not one of her best performances.  Darcy is irritating, and just when things get interesting between Rachel and Dex, the self-centered Darcy barges in and ruins it.  This isn’t the fault of the character (such things are a requirement of a movie like this), but Hudson’s performance is consistently off.  Likewise, Dex’s lecherous friend Marcus (Steve Howey) is also aggravating.  He’s a poor actor and an even worse funnyman.

The saving grace is John Krasinski.  Krasinski is a master of comic timing and reaction shots (two of the most important aspects of getting a successful laugh), and he’s also a capable dramatic actor.  That actually presents another problem: he’s so good that after we’ve spent time alone with him and Rachel, we become unsure who Rachel should end up with.

Luke Greenfield’s direction is a little sloppy in the beginning, but it gets better as the film goes on.  The romance sizzles, and the comedy is sometimes quite funny.  But in the end, I can’t quite recommend this film.  That being said, if a person had their heart set on seeing this film, I wouldn’t stop them.

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