Something Borrowed

May 5, 2011

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Contextually, the grab-your-girls-and-go soiree “Something Borrowed” is a traversal of the rocky roads of friendship, and a flippant tour of New York’s upper-crust hot spots (Hamptons? Westchester? Check, check). But it’s all over the flippin’ map in terms of what it’s able to accomplish.

However caricaturish, it nails the chick-lit archetypes set forth by author Emily Giffin’s best-selling source (adapted here by girl-power TV scribe Jennie Snyder), but its wandering eye shortchanges a key player or two. And while there’s bubbly truth to the “it’s complicated” central friendship, the spotlight romance is as gnarled as a grape vine.

The heroine is upright lawyer Rachel, who, despite being played by the impossibly adorable Ginnifer Goodwin, is positioned as the Rhoda to party girl Darcy’s Mary, the “ugly” duckling to the Cosmo-swigging swan. The familiar dynamic is introduced during a 30th birthday bash that Darcy (Kate Hudson) throws for Rachel, where trope-happy director Luke Greenfield includes a slideshow of the besties through the years.

Smells like just another yada-yada sisterhood, but there’s something seasoned and real about the bond. A great bit sees Darcy initiate an impromptu dance to Salt-n-Pepa’s “Push It,” and Rachel, without a thought, leaps into the choreography, her instinctive allegiance speaking volumes about the pair’s past.

But what happens when Rachel starts an affair with Darcy’s fiancé (Colin Egglesfield), who’s also the law school peer Rachel’s loved all along? The movie uses the post-20s ticking-clock device to power its study of whether or not it’s ever too late to cash in on unspoken feelings. It works to an extent, and Darcy’s boozy-bimbo ways make Rachel’s treachery palatable (Hudson is rarely not playing drunk), but a more-is-more cascade of breakups, make-ups, yeses, nos and partner swaps proves one twist too many, snuffing out interest in the outcome.

The not-so-secret weapon is John Krasinski, who’s fantastic as the comic angel on Rachel’s shoulder. Speaking of borrowed, could he just loan himself to every movie in need of a confidant?