Taking a break from our project, I opted to not be all LA and join Brett at the gym. Instead, I indulged in spreading out on the couch Jabba the Hutt style to watch one of the many movies offered on his 600 channel cable box. Having lived in France for years with limited television options, this was an absolute treat. Picking a movie was a tough call though, the choices were endless. I narrowed it down to either Black Swan, Midnight in Paris, Kill John Tucker, Deliver Us From Eva, Wayne's World (1 and/or 2), and Something Borrowed.
Wanting to choose a movie to doze off to, I went for Something Borrowed, a film I knew nothing about other than the fact that it was adapted from a popular a "Women's Literature" (Brett told me that the category chick-lit doesn't exist anymore, how sad) novel. I assumed it was about a bride facing the challenges before her wedding day who has her best friend (who gives her "something borrowed") by her side as she enters the next phase of her life; marriage. For those of you who have seen the movie or read the book are laughing right now. I couldn't have been more wrong.
So what is this gem of a story about? I'll tell you. Enter Rachel, the meek brunette who has been overshadowed her entire life by her best friend, the outgoing, effervescent blonde, Darcy played by Kate Hudson. The men, who typically in RomComs are just moving furniture were actually involved characters with a pulse in this story. In this film, we have several men, we have Dex, Darcy's fiancé and two guy friends Ethan (played by John Krasinski) and Mark. Seems like a harmless formula, right? Five friends involved and relishing in the happiness of their best friends' wedding. Not so much. In Something Borrowed, Rachel is having an emotional and consummated affair with Dex, Darcy's fiancé.
Wasn't expecting that, but ok...
So we're supposed to hate Rachel for lying to her childhood best friend and sleeping with the man she is about to marry, right? Not quite, we're actually supposed to be rooting for the underdog because she has been in the background her entire life, while her brazen best friend takes center stage.
Well in that case.
The film didn't even try to justify the betrayal by portraying Darcy as an unbearable bitch (like she apparently was in the novel) that we as an audience never liked anyway. Was she self-involved and vapid? Sure, but this still doesn't legitimize Rachel's treachery, sorry. As the affair gets more complicated between Rachel and Dex, at one point Rachel snaps at him, saying that she can't stand seeing him with "her". Her? You mean his future wife and your best friend? And then there's Ethan (played by John Krasinski, who I normally adore) who encourages this behavior by telling Rachel to stick up for herself, get what she wants and go get her man.
What planet are these characters from? Geez, with friends like this who needs enemies?
Having had several frenemies in my life, whom I had found out after the fact were hurting me behind my back, I no longer have patience for stories like this. You're supposed to be able to trust your girlfriends and if you think one is unbearable and selfish, instead of sleeping with the man she is planing to spend the rest of her life with, how about defriend her and move on. That's the beauty of friendships, you choose them.
I understand that the story is aimed to be realistic because let's face it, this sort of thing does happen, but I guess I was waiting for there to be an exception, a gray area that would advocate the betrayal which normally comes in the form of persuading the audience to dislike the woman being deceived (think Parker Posey's character in You've Got Mail) or that it was never going to work out between the couple anyway. Oh wait, I'm sorry there was an attempt to rid the guilt by wrapping it up a neat little package that Darcy too was having an affair with Mark and is now - wait for it - pregnant with their love child!
How insulting to the audience. Now we're supposed to be relieved that this all happened for a reason and everyone goes their own way.
There are plenty of films that I've appreciated that touch on if not are based on infidelities (e.g, Woody Allen's Euro films) but a movie that is clearly marketed as a Romantic Comedy complete with a poster that replaces the 'o' in borrowed with a floating engagement ring, turns out to be a film about an insecure, backstabbing best friend plotting to steal your fiancé? I guess I wasn't expecting this and it struck a chord with me. - to say the very least.
What do you ladies think? Am I missing an obvious point portrayed in the film, that feelings are facts that need to be acted on? And that friendship is fleeting and it's a case of c'est comme ça?
I should have watched Deliver Us From Eva.
