WMR #7 - Something Borrowed

"Kate Hudson Bride Movie" week part DOS!

Something Borrowed: 2011

Viewing: May 8.

This movie was based off the book of the same name by Emily Griffith and it showed. More on that later. Math and I got a free showing to this movie from one of the venues we visited but unfortunately they "overbook" the tickets and we got there too late and it was full. Totally lame b/c we had gotten one of my bridesmaids, H, to babysit and drove all the way to Cherry Creek...grr. So, we had to pay like average Paying Joes a few weeks later. Luckily, another of my bridesmaids, A, got to come and see it with us. (The book comment above was from her).

The Book - never read it.

Starring Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin as best friends Rachel and Darcy (wow...I already see a trend to Bride Wars), this movie is about marriage, love and betrayal. Darcy is engaged to Dex (Colin Egglesfield) the ball-less law school colleague and long-time crush of Rachel (who's also ball-less). Rachel, the smart/dorky one, couldn't seem to believe that Dex would EVER like her (even though it was OH-SO-OBVIOUS) so she ends up, stupidly, giving the 'OK' to Darcy, the pretty/bubble-headed one, to date and subsequently marry him.

One night over drinks (6 years after they met) Rachel lets slip to Dex that she had a crush on him in law school. He's like, "Oh really? I had no idea" (you un-observational mook) and they make out in a cab which leads to sex. Then they're like, "OMG WTF DID WE DOOOOOOO?!?!!" And they try to brush it off and Rachel McObservant-pants thinks that it was just a drunk thing. But as time goes on (and the wedding date gets closer) they realize that they really really really DO like each other. So instead of re-examining their relationship (and Dex re-examining his impending doom marriage) in their OWN HEADS - they decide to "see where this is going" in another way. Effectively, Dex lies to Darcy about having to work one weekend  where he really spends it with Rachel - and they subsequently cheat on Darcy a couple more times.

That fateful night...

Meanwhile, you have Evan (John Krasinski), the well-meaning childhood friend, who has a crush on Rachel, giving commentary as she explains her situation with Dex. Eventually she and Evan they have a big fight and she decides that she needs to tell Dex to break up with Darcy b/c she's liked him for years. Dex pussies out and, under wimpy pressure from his dad, decides to do "what's right" even though he likes Rachel more. So, Rachel's dreams are crushed and she abandons Darcy a week before the wedding to visit Evan in London. There it's unveiled that Evan really likes Rachel and Rachel pretty much said "yeah, no". Then she decides that she's going to be a "good friend" to Darcy and go support her at her wedding even though her love and heartbreaker will be there.

When she returns, she finds Dex sitting on her doorstep. OMG no way!!?! He called the wedding off to be with her...Soooo romantic. Except, the idiot, he goes to Rachel's house where...no kidding...her best friend (Darcy) is most likely to go right after she finds out her wedding is canceled. Turns out she cheated on Dex with some d-bag and now is preggo...but whatever. Point is, she finally finds out that Dex cheated on her w/ Rachel, gets subsequently really pissed and their friendship is ruined. The movie ends with Rachel picking up Dex's dry cleaning (super original) and bumping into Darcy (because New York is small) and they have a cold exchange with a hint of the warmth that they once shared.

Game. Set. And Match.

The crew at the Hamptons. I was really hoping Rachel would accept her friends' (or just "friend's"?)  relationship and decide that she and Evan were a much better match anyway (because they totally were).

OMG...I can't begin to explain what was wrong w/ this movie...or more likely, what's wrong w/ the story in general. First of all...if you cheat on your bff once...don't pre-meditatively do it AGAIN. Oh and adding lying to the list of vices is a great idea. :-\

Second...don't wait SIX YEARS to tell a guy you like him. Ok, maybe you're avoiding potential heartbreak by rejection but realistically, you're getting way more heartbreak seeing him with your best friend during the next six years. Rachel, sweetie,  if your friends are engaged and you STILL haven't told Dex you like him, I think you've got to throw in the towel on this one. There are plenty of other fish in the sea.

Third...I can't believe this movie pretty much tells women that a romantic relationship is worth more than a long-term, childhood, multi-years friendship. (Another parallel to Bride Wars). I have to say that while I don't have any friends from elementary school that I've been in constant contact and simultaneously super-close with,  I have found that friends are still around once the boyfriends are gone. Men should not get in the way of girl friendships ever - Chicks before Dicks afterall!

Fourth...What was up with the Evan love scene? I swear, it took up a whopping 10 minutes of the movie and about five lines of dialogue. Jim Evan literally says, "Don't worry, my love is not a burning, passionate love but more like a slow stead buildup that happens so slowly that I barely notice it." And that was pretty much the end of that. TOTALLY lame since it seemed that a lot of the preceding scenes were building up to this moment. They do a good job of developing his character in the 105 minutes before - from the very opening sequence where he notices that Rachel looks sad in the club until the moment he decides to move to London. He is the 3rd character introduced and yet at the very end his plot falls through the cracks of the movie and is swept away before the viewer realizes what happened.

Fifth....when Rachel tells Dex to drop everything and get with her he's like "um...can't sorry" but when he finally decides that he's "ready" it's up to HER to drop everything and get with him. Why...why...why does love/marriage always have to be up to the guy to initiate? And why is this acceptable?  I don't know if this is what you'd call a double standard or a catch 22 or any of those numeric metaphors - this bugs me in every day life and it bugs me even more in this movie. Rachel totally "Taylor Swift-ed" this.

Lastly...Dex is kind of a tool. He doesn't get with Rachel initially because he thought it would make his mom depressed again. When he realizes that she is OK with him breaking it off with Darcy and that she just wants him to be happy, that's when he finally decides to go with Rachel. So it was more for his mom, in some ways, than him. Sounds like a total mama's boy to me! Why would Rachel even want to be with him? 

Look at that tool-y face - Cute, but still kinda looks like a tool.

The one redeeming point in this movie was Evan, the only REALLY likable character.  All the rest  of them, at some point, I just wanted shake and say "GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!!"

Anyway, I could go on, but some people may have actually liked this movie so I'll stop here. I give it it 1 of 5 stars - and that 1 is for Evan and the fact that I did laugh/chuckle a few times. It would've been a 1.5 but we paid $7-$8 (plus $7 for popcorn - NOT a waste!!!) for this piece of crap. So that lowers the rating.

Math's rating is 3 of 5 stars - he loved Evan and the scenes in the Hamptons (I think someone needs a beach vacation. hehe). He said that it didn't responsibly deal with the issues at hand, but he had fun at it. He's such a sweetie! Much sweeter than me.