Something Borrowed

The plot of Emily Giffin’s 2005 best-selling novel is pure soap opera: best friends Darcy (Kate Hudson) and Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) fall for the same guy, Dex (Colin Egglesfield); he gets engaged to one and falls in love with the other. But ‘Something Borrowed’ never comes to terms with the fact that its object of desire is a colossal prick.

Beginning with a surprise birthday party, the movie shuttles back and forth between Dex and Rachel’s law-school meeting and his impending wedding to Darcy. Neither Rachel, the consistently upstaged underdog, nor the groom-to-be has the gumption to act on their feelings until the nuptials are nigh; cue laughter, sighs and lots of running in the rain.

Still, no amount of gloss can turn Egglesfield’s two-timer into a hero and his bland performance doesn’t help. This rom-com has something old, something borrowed and something blue; the something new, however, is missing. (Sam Adams, Time Out New York)