Romantic comedies often referred to as “rom-coms,” have been around almost as long as commercial films themselves. As any fan of the genre knows, a good rom-com should include two primary ingredients: romance and comedy. Unfortunately for 2011’s Something Borrowed, the story is neither romantic nor particularly funny.
Big Love’s Ginnifer Goodwin stars as Rachel White a successful attorney working at a New York law firm. Having just turned thirty, she’s increasingly frustrated over not having found “Mr. Right.” It doesn’t help that the guy she’s secretly in love with—law school study buddy Dex Thaler (Colin Egglesfield)—is set to marry her best friend Darcy Rhone (Kate Hudson) in a couple of months. Rachel and Darcy have been friends since they were very young girls, and in that time, Darcy has always gotten everything she wanted. However, when Rachel tells Dex about her secret crush on him one night, he reciprocates by kissing her, leading to a night in bed with one another that Rachel immediately regrets. Dex is convinced that he has feelings for her. To that end, he convinces Rachel to spend more time with him so they can figure out if what they have is real enough to risk hurting Darcy.
Something Borrowed doesn’t break a whole lot of new ground if you’ve seen a bunch of romantic comedies. It’s all fairly formulaic; except that it’s not as bad as you might think (it’s not great, either). Based on the bestselling Emily Giffin novel of the same name, the film poses an interesting question (What would you do if you were in love with your best friend’s fiancé?), but fails to make the story that follows appealing. The biggest problem is that most of the characters are hard to relate to. There are a couple of flashbacks to Rachel and Dex in law school; its obvious even then that they both had feelings for each other. If they had both fessed up, this whole mess could have been avoided. Darcy is such a egotistical jerk, it’s hard to Imagine that Rachel would remain friends with her for so many years.
All of the actors involved do the best they can with limited material. Ginnifer Goodwin and Colin Egglesfield remain likeable, despite the fact that their characters are engaged in an affair, while Kate Hudson plays the narcissist surprisingly well (though it’s getting a little tiring seeing her in all these “rom-coms.”). The best performance comes from John Krasinski, as Rachel’s buddy Ethan, who spends the bulk of the film avoiding the advances of a former lover (Ashley Williams) and doling out advice to Rachel whenever he can. If not for Krasinski, Something Borrowed would be a dull affair indeed.
Presented in its theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, this 1090P transfer is acceptable, but not great. The image is surprisingly soft throughout. Although the colors are bright and vivid, skintones look somewhat dark. The PQ isn’t terrible, it just should have been much better for a new release.
The lossless 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio does what it can with a routine soundtrack that favors dialogue, as it should in a romantic comedy, and music, which can raucous. The film begins with a boomy bass track and never gets better. The midrange is clean and clear, so dialogue is intelligible, but don’t expect much more. There’s a decent front-channel stereo spread, a modest dynamic range, and very little surround sound.
The film comes with English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Along with the DVD and Digital Copy, we get the following special features:
- On Location Tours (HD, 5 minutes): Author Emily Griffin and some of her fans ride around New York in a tour bus, talking about the movie, the book and the Darcy’s and Rachel’s of the world.
- Inside Something Borrowed (HD, 3 minutes): This EPK sums up the plot.
- Something Old? (HD, 4 minutes): The cast and crew discuss turning thirty.
- What is “Something Borrowed” (HD, 2 minutes): The cast reflects on the phrase “something borrowed.”
- Left Off the Guest List (HD, 8 minutes): Four awful deleted scenes are available: “I’m Sorry We Haven’t Had Time to Talk,” “This is Already the Best Weekend I’ve Ever Had,” “Rachel and Ethan in London” and “When Were You Going to Tell Me?”
- Marcus’ Guide to the Ladies (HD, 7 minutes): Marcus (Steve Howey) offers advice on picking up women.
- Gag Reel (HD, 6 minutes)
