NEWSThe PhilmGuy Reviews: 'Something Borrowed' Starring Kate Hudson & Ginnifer Goodwin
May 4 2011, Published 7:29 a.m. ET
Usually Kate Hudson’s appearance in the cast is a sparkly-lip-glossed kiss of death for a romantic comedy. Reading off her filmography causes me physical pain. Bride Wars. Alex & Emma. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Raising Helen.
When you have to go back to You, Me and Dupree as evidence that not all Kate Hudson romcoms are garbage, you’re talking box office poison with cyanide-like potency.
And the thing is, it’s never her fault that her movies are so bad. To the contrary, she’s usually the only force that makes a movie watchable. If glitter were made into a human form, it would be Kate Hudson. She leaves imaginary trails of stardust wherever she walks, and her smile can case planes to crash with laser pointer like efficiency. Too bad her agent seems to choose her movies by dartboard.
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Luckily, Something Borrowed is every bit as good as You, Me and Dupree. Which is to say it’s perfectly enjoyable while you’re in the theater and so forgettable as soon as you walk out that you’ll need to look it up on IMDB afterward to confirm that the movie actually exists.
Based on a novel by Chick Lit Master Overlord Emily Giffin, the movie may be as predictable as a Madonna marriage, but it’s blessed by enough magnetism from the cast that it’s easy to pretend you’re actually worried about how things will turn out.
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Rachel is a Poindexterish, movie-ugly (meaning hotter than 98 percent of the population but not as hot as an aging Kate Hudson) lawyer played by Ginnifer Goodwin who is all sad panda that her bestie, Darcy (Kate Hudson), is about to marry Most Boring Man Alive (Colin Egglesfield), whom Rachel has always secretly loved oh-so-hard.
There’s also Jim From The Office – that’s the guy’s real name, according to the long-form birth certificate he showed Donald Trump last week – who is Darcy’s platonic buddy who just goes around doing Jim things, such as looking superior to people when they say dumb or inappropriate things. Jim (okay, John Krasinski) would be the best part of the movie, if not for Hudson, who is somehow even more attractive now that her looks are fading and she’s starting to look semi-attainable. I rooted for Rachel to break up the marriage mainly because I wanted Darcy single, which I’m sure is what Giffin intended back when she thought this whole thing up.
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The excellent supporting cast also includes Ashley Williams as Jim’s psycho, pathetic hanger-on, and Steve Howey as a bro-tastic womanizer who tried to insta-seduce everything on the screen, especially the women.
Something Borrowed accomplishes that all-too-elusive task – it made me like it against my will and despite my biases, and it made me like that I liked it. I enjoyed its walk of shame, and can’t wait for its projected sequel, Something Blue, in which Kate Hudson will be older, less attractive, and thus even hotter.
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Starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, John Krasinski and Colin Egglesfield. Written by Jennie Snider, based on the book by Emily Giffin. Directed by Luke Greenfield. Rated PG-13. 110 minutes.
