“Something old, something new/ something borrowed, something blue/ and a silver sixpence in her shoe” is how the old rhyme goes for a bride before she gets married. The chick flick “Something Borrowed” would be infinitely better if it “borrowed” more complex characters and a less simplistic plot.
“Something Borrowed” begins when the main character, Rachel (played by Ginnifer Goodwin) has a fling with her best friend Darcy’s (played by Kate Hudson) fiancée Dex (played by Colin Egglesfield). They both discover they’ve been in love with each other since law school. Rachel is the typical good girl, doe eyed protagonist of the film and was too modest in law school to think Dex would ever choose her over her partying, loud and egotistical friend Darcy. The rest of the movie commences in Rachel and Dex being indecisive about leaking their relationship to Darcy and them taking multiple high-end weekend vacations to the Hamptons. Rachel and Darcy’s smart alecky friend from childhood, Ethan (played by John Krasinski) annunciates the viewer’s feelings by asking Rachel if she’s going reveal her and Dex’s relationship or not. Rachel feels loyal to Darcy, however is conflicted because she’s in love with Dex.
The catch? Well, there’s many. Although the movie has the typical markings of an entertaining chick flick—a good cast, high end New York City and the Hamptons scenery, and a pretty cute plotline—it’s very superficial and the screenplay is simply subpar. The characters are extremely one-dimensional and lack depth, and overall the movie is unrealistic.
The first part that’s unrealistic is that Rachel might feel some sort of loyalty to Darcy, which is ridiculous. Darcy is annoying, loud and a huge partier, while Rachel is the opposite. It’s even a wonder that Dex would want to marry her.There is also the question as to why Dex’s old school, rich and proper parents would want him to marry a crazy partier like Darcy.
Of course, I think Hudson played Darcy’s role relatively well. However, it is the plot that makes her character so annoyingly simple. The viewer doesn’t even know her job—all that’s known about Darcy is that she parties, gets drunk and goes on weekend jaunts to the Hamptons. Darcy is not the only mystery character—the other characters are unknown, and for instance in the case of Egglesfield heartless and not worth remembering. Even though there are very few characters in the movie, none of their personalities are really explored at length. If there was more known about the characters, some of the unrealistic elements of the movie could be avoided.
Despite the superficiality of the characters, the acting in the movie is generally a thumbs up. A particular plus is Krasinski’s role as the sarcastic but likeable best friend. His humor plays well off of Goodwin’s, and he provides a fresh relief to the film.
Although the acting was somewhere from mediocre to pretty good in “Something Borrowed”, the simplicity of the characters and plot diminishes a potentially good movie. If the plot was more complex and had less “waiting”, I think that “Something Borrowed” could have been very good.