Book & Movie Review: Something Borrowed

Nancy's Review of Something Borrowed (Book & Movie)

Something Borrowed is about Rachel White, an attorney in Manhattan, and her childhood best friend, Darcy Rhone. Told from Rachel's point of view, the story begins when Darcy throws Rachel a 30th birthday party.

Rachel always plays by the rules. She always comes in second to Darcy and is quite accustomed to it, rarely speaking up for herself. She gives in to Darcy's demands, regardless of her true feelings. Darcy is engaged to Rachel's friend from law school, Dex. Rachel has been harboring a secret crush on Dex for years. When Darcy leaves Rachel's 30th birthday party early because she has had too much to drink, Dex takes her home. However, it isn't long before he is back at the party looking for Darcy's lost purse. He asks Rachel to go with him to another bar for one more drink. One thing leads to another and Rachel winds up in bed withe her best friend's fiance. Rachel's 30th birthday party is where her affair with Dex begins. They see each other secretly, making desperate attempts to keep their relationship hidden. Eventually, Rachel's co-worker and friend, Hillary, figures it out. Rachel then confides in her close friend, Ethan, who has been friends with Rachel and Darcy since they were kids, but likes Rachel much more than he likes Darcy. Hillary and Ethan are both rooting for Rachel's relationship with Dex because they don't want her to always be in Darcy's shadow. The whole situation becomes increasingly complicated as Rachel is forced to choose: friendship or true love?

  • The friendship between Rachel and Darcy is definitely believable. The depiction of childhood best friends who have stuck together into adulthood, despite their differences, is beautifully depicted.  
  • The flashbacks to different times in the Rachel and Darcy friendship are very important to understanding how they have gotten to where they are now.
  • Even though Darcy is a difficult friend to have around, most people have or have had a friend like her. Her actions will make readers cringe while relating to them. Readers will either be more like Rachel, more like Darcy, or a mixture of both. Bottom line: everyone can relate to these characters.
  • The relationship between Rachel and Dex is understandable. The details of their past make it easy to believe why they are risking everything for each other in the present. The intensity of their affair adds to the conflict and adds to the emotional impact of the overall story.
  • The ending is very realistic, including the character transformation that Rachel makes. 
  • There are a couple of great scenes between Rachel and Darcy, showing the depth of their friendship.
  • Kate Hudson is fantastic as Darcy.
  • Hillary is not in the movie. Ethan is the only best friend to Rachel, besides Darcy.
  • John Krasinski, who plays Ethan, really steals the film. He gives a great performance that is a departure from his character on the popular NBC show The Office. It is great to see him step into other roles that broaden his career and show more of his acting skills.
  • The flashbacks are just as important in the movie. The black and white freeze on Rachel's face is a great way to transition to a flashback.
  • The on-screen chemistry between Ginnifer Goodwin (Rachel) and Colin Egglesfield (Dex) is lacking a bit. The Rachel and Dex relationship is much more compelling in the book. Ginnifer Goodwin has better on-screen chemistry with John Krasinski.
  • The way the movie ends is slightly different from how the book ends. The movie's ending is less satisfying and less realistic than the book's ending. 
Overall, the book is better than the movie. However, the movie is well done. It is great to see the book's characters come to life on the big screen. Looking forward to reading the book's sequel, Something Blue. Hopefully, we'll get to see a film sequel as well.
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Have you read Something Borrowed and/or seen the movie? What do you think?

Friday Flicks: Burlesque

Nancy’s Review of Burlesque

I am a huge fan of musicals, on stage and on screen. I was very excited to see Burlesque because I thought it had the potential to be great. Boy, was I disappointed. Not only did it lack flow but it was way too long. I looked at my cell phone for the time thinking it was almost over and it was actually only an hour into the two hours and fifteen minutes. Needless to say, I was antsy. The story lines that accompanied the musical numbers in the burlesque club were disjointed. There were a lot of aspects of the stories that were either unnecessary, unrealistic, boring, random, or a combination. I have to admit that Christina Aguilera did a good job with what she was given. I can see her going on to do more movies. However, her singing became irritating after a while because she did too many vocal runs and she over sang. I know those are her trademarks but they were still a bit much. Cher sang twice during the movie. She still sounds pretty good but, like many other things in this movie, her second song was unnecessary and random. The characters were inconsistent too. For example, Aguilera’s character, Ali, had a love interest named Jack. At the beginning, he was supposed to come off as sexy but he just seemed creepy. During the movie, he redeemed himself and seemed like a genuinely nice guy. But wait, not so fast. He turned into a complete jerk toward the end and I don’t think there is any girl who will agree with how Ali handled the situation. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who still plans to see the movie. But her reaction to his "mistakes" is not realistic at all for any self-respecting woman. Ali made so much progress during the movie transforming from a small town Iowa girl to the star of a burlesque show in Los Angeles who is living her dream, so her reaction to Jack was all wrong considering her personal growth. The best way to describe Burlesque is to say that it is a really, really long Christina Aguilera music video. If you aren’t a fan of Christina or Cher, then I don’t recommend this movie. If you are just looking for dancing and singing and you are not interested in the story, then I recommend it. You still might leave thinking it was a total waste of money but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
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Have you seen Burlesque? What did you think of it? Do you plan on seeing it? Leave a comment below to let us know. Thanks!

Friday Flick: Life As We Know It

Life As We Know It starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel came out in theaters today. I highly recommend it. I was a bit skeptical going into it and thought it might be another awful romantic comedy since I felt like I got the entire story from the commercials. But, I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it and I think you will enjoy it too. If you haven’t seen any of the many commercials over the past few weeks, it is basically about two single people (Heigl and Duhamel) who have to raise their deceased best friends’ one year old daughter. You can probably guess how this movie ends but the journey the characters take to get there is well worth it. I don’t want to ruin any of the movie for you since it is already somewhat predictable, so I’ll keep this short. Go see Life As We Know It if you get a chance. I think even guys will like this one.

Have a great weekend! And don’t forget to play Find That Quote here. We’ll announce the winner on Monday!

Nancy