thoughts on Something Borrowed (spoilers)

First off: when I went to see Water for Elephants a few weeks ago, I watched the previews and thought to myself, "Wow. I am going to be at the movies all summer. I would see literally all of these movies." Larry Crowne, The Help, Something Borrowed, and a couple of others that I'm not remembering right now but that looked at least okay. Today's previews were more of a mixed bag: there were two that looked awesome (the last Harry Potter movie and Crazy Stupid Love, starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, and Emma Stone); one that looked surprisingly good given the concept (Friends with Benefits, starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis); one that could potentially be funny but also kind of crude and gross, which many of you know I don't really go for (The Change-up, starring Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds); and one that looked pretty dumb but had a good cast (Our Idiot Brother, starring Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, and some other people). The thing is, even the ones that didn't look great looked like they would have some redeeming qualities, and let me just say, this summer's movie season looks like it has so much more potential than last summer's. I think last summer the only movies I was looking forward to seeing were Iron Man 2 and Sex and the City 2, and Sex and the City 2 wound up being Just Awful. So...yaay for Hollywood, I guess.

Okay, so...Something Borrowed. About once or twice a year, I feel like going to a romantic comedy. That romantic comedy usually stars Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner, or Kate Hudson, actresses who I became fans of largely because of their work in other genres, but who raise the level of pretty much any movie they are in. You may disagree with that. I think they're all fairly dependable; even if you don't love the movie they're in, they'll all usually make it at least somewhat enjoyable. Two of the romantic comedies I've seen in the past three years have also featured Ginnifer Goodwin. I don't think she's as likable of an actress; her characters usually come across as somewhat one-dimensional, somewhat shallow, and somewhat annoying. In other words, she's not exactly a major draw for me, but whatever. I wanted to see Something Borrowed. My verdict on it?

It was decent. All of the actors (including Hudson, Goodwin, and John Krasinski) do a good job, and they play characters who are like me and other people I know. However, those characters then do things that I don't entirely understand and probably wouldn't do myself, so I couldn't *totally* relate. For example: Ginnifer Goodwin's character, Rachel, often feels overshadowed by her louder, more vibrant friend, Darcy (Hudson); feels that she "wasted her twenties," I guess because she spent most of it in school (college, then law school) and didn't seem to have any serious romantic relationships; and lacks confidence: she missed her chance with Dex (Colin Egglesfield) largely because she couldn't fathom that a guy that good-looking would ever like her. She instead practically gave him to Darcy, who is now marrying him. This is all relatable. However, as someone who shares some of Rachel's qualities/problems, I can't fathom feeling overshadowed by a louder friend *practically every day of your entire life* without either making more of an effort to break out on your own or, at the very least, being more openly angry/resentful. She and Darcy rarely seem to clash, and not only does Rachel rarely have a bad word to say about her, she openly makes excuses for/defends her behavior. I wanted her to have more of a spine, I guess.

So does John Krasinski's character, Ethan, a friend of Rachel's who cheers her on; encourages her to stand up to Darcy; and encourages her to demand more from her relationship with Dex, who Rachel winds up having an affair with. However, Ethan also does things in this movie that I don't entirely understand. For example: he is constantly telling Rachel to stand up for herself more and be more forthright about her feelings and what she wants. However, there is this girl named Claire in the movie who he once had a one-night stand with, is part of their social circle, and who spends much of the movie actively pursuing him. He responds to her advances not by being as straightforward with her as he is constantly telling Darcy to be, but by...telling her that he's gay (which he's not, in case that was unclear). What? Who does that, especially to someone whose feelings they don't otherwise seem to be that concerned with hurting, and who, again, is part of their extended circle of friends and therefore will undoubtedly eventually learn that the gay thing isn't true? Stupid.

And then there is Dex, who...kind of sucks. He cheats on Darcy with Rachel and reveals that he's been in love with Rachel since they went to law school together. So, my question is...why get engaged to Darcy? Why never tell Rachel how you feel? I totally buy that, thinking that Rachel wasn't interested, he would date Darcy, who was blatant about being interested in him. But engaged? No. I can also buy that Dex and Rachel would like each other in law school and both be too shy to do anything about it. That kind of thing happens all the time. But given that they saw each other regularly for *six years*, what with law school and him dating Darcy, wouldn't you think those feelings would come to the surface before the time this movie begins? Also, Rachel flashes back to all of these moments from the past when she could have told Dex how she felt and instead just walked away. Yes. She should have been more forthright with her feelings from the beginning. But the thing is...he never goes after her. He lets her walk away again and again. If he's so in love with her, can't he take the tiniest bit of a chance or put forth the tiniest bit of effort? Similarly, he stays engaged to Darcy long after he tells Rachel he loves her. He just...sucks, like I said. We're supposed to want Dex and Rachel to end up together, but I just couldn't quite bring myself to want that.

There are also a couple of minor characters who are around a lot but never really developed, which I guess is probably a result of this movie being adapted from a book. One of them is the aforementioned Claire; I spent the whole movie wondering where I'd seen her before. Then I came home, looked her up on IMDB, and scrolled through her list of credits going "I never saw that...never saw that either...OH! Victoria! Ted's first season girlfriend on How I Met Your Mother!" So there's that.

So, overall, I guess I would say that while I found all of the characters and actors relatable and believable, I couldn't quite understand/approve of a lot of their actions. At least the situation and characters are somewhat complex, and like I said, the acting is good across the board. I guess if I were giving this movie a letter grade, I would give it a B- or C+.