Review by Rich Wilson
Stars Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglefield,
John Krasinski, Ashley Williams | Written by Jennie Snyder Urman
UK certification 12 | UK RRP £22.99 | BD Region B | Runtime 110 minutes | Directed by Luke Greenfield
What is the major problem with Something Borrowed? Nothing. This is a film that sits like a large, perfectly shined lump of blandness, asks for nothing from the audience, and offers nothing in return. It offers nothing in terms of pacing, dialogue, action, drama. A film labelled as a romantic comedy that is devoid of romance and bereft of humour. Competently made, nice to look at in high-definition, and a soundtrack comprising of tunes you once heard in a bar and have tried valiantly to forget since. Seriously folks, nothing to see here.
Something Borrowed is so completely derivative that you suspect Greenfield went to the cupboard marked rom-com and picked the bits he needed. Nice girl, snotty girl, best friends since childhood? Check. Gorgeous fiancé about to marry snotty girl? Check. Nice girl besotted with gorgeous fiancé? Check. Gorgeous fiancé and nice girl have sex, struggle to come to terms with guilt over snotty girl? Check. Not so gorgeous but so-funny-and-such-a-great-friend bloke who loves nice girl? Check. You’re comfortable filling in the rest? Check. I’m pretty sure you can figure this one out from here.
Somewhere buried very, very deep in here there could be good movie, one that is prepared to explore the themes of competitiveness and betrayal in friends, but Something Borrowed is so obsessed with hitting all the clichés that it forgets anything else. Leads Goodwin and Hudson have very little chemistry. Goodwin still has the bright-eyed optimism that Meg Ryan carried through this sort of thing in the nineties, but Hudson looks tired, going through the motions as she has done with virtually the same script a dozen times before. Cameron Crowe and Almost Famous must seem a long time ago. It’s all very nice. Everyone has a superb job, flawless hair, wonderful bone structure and appear to spend their days moving through great apartments or bars or coffee shops. Naturally, it’s set in New York. Just in case you were worried, there’s a kissing scene in the rain, and a final coda promises they’ll be a continuation to this whole wretched mess. Rom-com’s don’t have to be this way - see the recent and brilliant Crazy, Stupid, Love for proof - but this will even struggle to appeal to those who enjoy looking at posters of puppies wrapped in blankets in the snow. Save your money. Go and watch Pretty In Pink instead.
EXTRAS ★★ Just a bunch of short features. Original author Emily Giffin shows us around the set of the movie, and there’s an attempt at humour with ‘Marcus’s Guide to the Ladies’ that is as excruciating as it sounds. A feeble making-of is nothing more than the cast and crew looking into the camera and congratulating one and other, and some deleted scenes and gag reel round things off in unspectacular fashion.