International Chick Lit Month: Something Borrowed

There is a famous saying called look at your friends and you see yourselves, in other words we are drawn to people who are just like us. But what about the other flip of the coin where opposites attract? Attractive and vivacious girl is best buddies with a dowdy and demure girl who let's her friend shine and take all the attention. How many times have we seen that scenario? Something Borrowed delves into this situation in the film adaptation of the best-selling book by Emily Giffin. Rachel played by Gennifer Goodwin is thoughtful. caring and generous yet she has always played second fiddle to her best friend, Darcy played by Kate Hudson. Darcy is drop dead gorgeous and has the sort of charisma that draws people in yet her manipulative ways means that she won't stop till she gets what she wants even if it is at the expense of others. When Darcy hooks up with Dex played by Colin Egglesfield who is Rachel's hot friend from law school, Rachel does nothing despite the fact that she really likes Dex and when Dex goes on to propose to Darcy, Rachel is still waiting on the sidelines like a spare tool. Then one drunken night after Rachel's 30th birthday party the unthinkable happens, she does the dirty on Darcy and sleeps with Dex. The morning after both best friend and groom are mortified but decide to keep it a secret. Next thing we know they are having a torrid affair while trying to keep up pretences with Darcy. However, Rachel decides that she needs more from the relationship and gives Dex and untimation to come clean with Darcy or call it off with her.

I have read the book of this film and it is not your run of the mill chick lit. A lot of the characters are very complex and there are a lot of grey areas that are covered. While Darcy is portrayed as a self obsorbed ditzy bimbo in the film, the book presents a more calculated character. The medium of film does not allow us to show the intricacies that are involved with female friendships especially long term ones. Women interact with each other very differently with men and to an extent a female can be like a relationship. It has its highs and lows and there are times when both parties involved can detest each other and this is all without getting into the competitiveness and rivalry that can cloud things. The casting was a bit off; in the book Darcy is a sultry brunette so the last person I would have picked to play her is Kate Hudson and Dex is described as being drop dead gorgeous so I would have expected someone like Ryan Reynolds or Bradley Cooper as opposed to Colin (who) Egglesfield. Still I heard that Emily Giffin is pleased with the result and thinks the casting was spot on so I suppose she is the real expert as it is her baby. Something Borrowed was an enjoyable film but it left me feeling very underwhelmed. There were some nice touches in the film such as a cameo by Emily Giffin sitting in the park reading the sequel, Something Blue which focuses on Darcy's side of the story. Also watch out for the short scene right at the end where we what looks like a potential trailer for Something Blue.

Something Borrowed is out in cinemas now.

I actually got introduced to Something Borrowed at the Yoruba Girl Dancing book club which I am part of and you can read what we all thought about it here.