Something blue as well as this wedding party has enough unlikable characters to put anyone into a funk.
DirectoR:Luke Greenfield
Screenwriter: Jennie Synder Urman
Cast :Ginnifer Goodwyn, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield, John Krasinski
The wedding comedy "Something Borrowed" raises provocative questions regarding love, commitment and marriage only to dismiss them with a brush of a hand as so much dandruff.
Weddings are clogging the cinema calendar these days with invitations coming in for Jumping the Broom, Bridesmaids, Love, Wedding, Marriage and Something Borrowed. What these films also share in common is a comic ineptitude that makes you wish for Divorce American Style. But one invitation at a time since Something Borrowed is the clichéd, predictable and exasperating movie under review here. The problem with this one is that of forcing rote characters into tired formulas that call to the mind the worst sort of TV sitcoms. All that’s missing is a laugh track.Something Borrowed doesn’t so much borrow from other movies as settle into a comfort zone of raising provocative questions regarding love, commitment and marriage only to dismiss them with a brush of a hand as so much dandruff. Box office will reflect audiences’ willingness to tolerate such laziness.
The really odd thing about all the characters in Something Borrowed is how much they dislike or manipulate one another. The engaged couple is clearly mismatched, the “best friends” friendship of bride and bridesmaid is a one-way relationship and everyone on their periphery either mock or take pains to avoid each other. Fun times.
Darcy (Kate Hudson), a blonde party-girl with an overpowering sense of entitlement, has stolen away an infatuated law-school classmate, Dex (Colin Egglesfield), from Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin), supposedly her best friend since childhood. Now on the eve of the nuptials, Dex and Rachel impulsively sleep together and rekindle all those glorious law-school memories. Gosh, what to do? Well, call off the wedding and rethink things. Alas, if that happens there goes the movie so everyone dithers so much Hamlet looks like a decisive guy.
Surrounding this soap opera are such best enemies as Ethan (John Krasinski), Rachel’s confident and secret admirer, who seems to exist for reaction shots; Dex’s best mate Marcus (Steve Howey), a loathsome skirt-chaser that many of the film’s women tolerate if not favor to the point of making them look daft; and Darcy’s friend Claire (Ashley Williams), whose pursuit of Ethan makes him willing to pretend to be gay.
Every weekend these folks head for the Hamptons for thoroughly awful get-togethers. This does, however, gives rise to — spoiler alert — the movie’s one and only witty line. Ethan declares the Hamptons are “a zombie movie directed by Ralph Lauren.”
If only screenwriter Jennie Synder Urman had further pursued this sort of wit in a script based on Emily Giffin’s novel. If only director Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door) had relied less on music cues and more on his cast to tell this admittedly lame story.
The film most reminiscent of Something Borrowed was the quite enjoyable Steve Carell-Juliette Binoche romantic comedy Dan in Real Life. What separates these two films, besides the creation of real characters in reasonably real situations in the latter, is an insistence that the two romantic leads in Something Borrowed once had their chance at romance and blew it only to drag a somewhat innocent person into a three-way that makes everyone look pathetic. (Actually Hudson’s character is anything but innocent so the word is used here in the loosest possible sense.)
Consequently, you don’t really like anyone here. No one deserves to be happy given the bad decisions, wrong values and susceptibility to outside pressure all the characters suffer from.
Production values are Ralph Lauren slick without a zombie in sight.
Something blue as well as this wedding party has enough unlikable characters to put anyone into a funk.
DirectoR:Luke Greenfield
Screenwriter: Jennie Synder Urman
Cast :Ginnifer Goodwyn, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield, John Krasinski
The wedding comedy "Something Borrowed" raises provocative questions regarding love, commitment and marriage only to dismiss them with a brush of a hand as so much dandruff.
Weddings are clogging the cinema calendar these days with invitations coming in for Jumping the Broom, Bridesmaids, Love, Wedding, Marriage and Something Borrowed. What these films also share in common is a comic ineptitude that makes you wish for Divorce American Style. But one invitation at a time since Something Borrowed is the clichéd, predictable and exasperating movie under review here. The problem with this one is that of forcing rote characters into tired formulas that call to the mind the worst sort of TV sitcoms. All that’s missing is a laugh track.Something Borrowed doesn’t so much borrow from other movies as settle into a comfort zone of raising provocative questions regarding love, commitment and marriage only to dismiss them with a brush of a hand as so much dandruff. Box office will reflect audiences’ willingness to tolerate such laziness.
The really odd thing about all the characters in Something Borrowed is how much they dislike or manipulate one another. The engaged couple is clearly mismatched, the “best friends” friendship of bride and bridesmaid is a one-way relationship and everyone on their periphery either mock or take pains to avoid each other. Fun times.
Darcy (Kate Hudson), a blonde party-girl with an overpowering sense of entitlement, has stolen away an infatuated law-school classmate, Dex (Colin Egglesfield), from Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin), supposedly her best friend since childhood. Now on the eve of the nuptials, Dex and Rachel impulsively sleep together and rekindle all those glorious law-school memories. Gosh, what to do? Well, call off the wedding and rethink things. Alas, if that happens there goes the movie so everyone dithers so much Hamlet looks like a decisive guy.
Surrounding this soap opera are such best enemies as Ethan (John Krasinski), Rachel’s confident and secret admirer, who seems to exist for reaction shots; Dex’s best mate Marcus (Steve Howey), a loathsome skirt-chaser that many of the film’s women tolerate if not favor to the point of making them look daft; and Darcy’s friend Claire (Ashley Williams), whose pursuit of Ethan makes him willing to pretend to be gay.
Every weekend these folks head for the Hamptons for thoroughly awful get-togethers. This does, however, gives rise to — spoiler alert — the movie’s one and only witty line. Ethan declares the Hamptons are “a zombie movie directed by Ralph Lauren.”
If only screenwriter Jennie Synder Urman had further pursued this sort of wit in a script based on Emily Giffin’s novel. If only director Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door) had relied less on music cues and more on his cast to tell this admittedly lame story.
The film most reminiscent of Something Borrowed was the quite enjoyable Steve Carell-Juliette Binoche romantic comedy Dan in Real Life. What separates these two films, besides the creation of real characters in reasonably real situations in the latter, is an insistence that the two romantic leads in Something Borrowed once had their chance at romance and blew it only to drag a somewhat innocent person into a three-way that makes everyone look pathetic. (Actually Hudson’s character is anything but innocent so the word is used here in the loosest possible sense.)
Consequently, you don’t really like anyone here. No one deserves to be happy given the bad decisions, wrong values and susceptibility to outside pressure all the characters suffer from.
Production values are Ralph Lauren slick without a zombie in sight.
Something blue as well as this wedding party has enough unlikable characters to put anyone into a funk.
DirectoR:Luke Greenfield
Screenwriter: Jennie Synder Urman
Cast :Ginnifer Goodwyn, Kate Hudson, Colin Egglesfield, John Krasinski
The wedding comedy "Something Borrowed" raises provocative questions regarding love, commitment and marriage only to dismiss them with a brush of a hand as so much dandruff.
Weddings are clogging the cinema calendar these days with invitations coming in for Jumping the Broom, Bridesmaids, Love, Wedding, Marriage and Something Borrowed. What these films also share in common is a comic ineptitude that makes you wish for Divorce American Style. But one invitation at a time since Something Borrowed is the clichéd, predictable and exasperating movie under review here. The problem with this one is that of forcing rote characters into tired formulas that call to the mind the worst sort of TV sitcoms. All that’s missing is a laugh track.Something Borrowed doesn’t so much borrow from other movies as settle into a comfort zone of raising provocative questions regarding love, commitment and marriage only to dismiss them with a brush of a hand as so much dandruff. Box office will reflect audiences’ willingness to tolerate such laziness.
The really odd thing about all the characters in Something Borrowed is how much they dislike or manipulate one another. The engaged couple is clearly mismatched, the “best friends” friendship of bride and bridesmaid is a one-way relationship and everyone on their periphery either mock or take pains to avoid each other. Fun times.
Darcy (Kate Hudson), a blonde party-girl with an overpowering sense of entitlement, has stolen away an infatuated law-school classmate, Dex (Colin Egglesfield), from Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin), supposedly her best friend since childhood. Now on the eve of the nuptials, Dex and Rachel impulsively sleep together and rekindle all those glorious law-school memories. Gosh, what to do? Well, call off the wedding and rethink things. Alas, if that happens there goes the movie so everyone dithers so much Hamlet looks like a decisive guy.
Surrounding this soap opera are such best enemies as Ethan (John Krasinski), Rachel’s confident and secret admirer, who seems to exist for reaction shots; Dex’s best mate Marcus (Steve Howey), a loathsome skirt-chaser that many of the film’s women tolerate if not favor to the point of making them look daft; and Darcy’s friend Claire (Ashley Williams), whose pursuit of Ethan makes him willing to pretend to be gay.
Every weekend these folks head for the Hamptons for thoroughly awful get-togethers. This does, however, gives rise to — spoiler alert — the movie’s one and only witty line. Ethan declares the Hamptons are “a zombie movie directed by Ralph Lauren.”
If only screenwriter Jennie Synder Urman had further pursued this sort of wit in a script based on Emily Giffin’s novel. If only director Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door) had relied less on music cues and more on his cast to tell this admittedly lame story.
The film most reminiscent of Something Borrowed was the quite enjoyable Steve Carell-Juliette Binoche romantic comedy Dan in Real Life. What separates these two films, besides the creation of real characters in reasonably real situations in the latter, is an insistence that the two romantic leads in Something Borrowed once had their chance at romance and blew it only to drag a somewhat innocent person into a three-way that makes everyone look pathetic. (Actually Hudson’s character is anything but innocent so the word is used here in the loosest possible sense.)
Consequently, you don’t really like anyone here. No one deserves to be happy given the bad decisions, wrong values and susceptibility to outside pressure all the characters suffer from.
Production values are Ralph Lauren slick without a zombie in sight.
Review
Denied a certificate by the British censors in 1926 and so frowned upon by the government that a distributor who tried to secure the film was "visited" by Scotland Yard, Battleship Potemkin has been seen almost exclusively in this country at film societies and workers' clubs. This is, essentially, the first time it has gone on general release here. Eisenstein's masterpiece is a film that many like to discuss knowledgeably, but surprisingly few have seen.
Don't be put off by the fact that it's an old silent movie or by the highbrow pronouncements that will undoubtedly herald its re-issue. Simply remember that without it the shower scene in Psycho would have been messy but not masterly and Kevin Costner would never have chased a pram down a staircase in The Untouchables.
Potemkin was originally planned as a brief aside in a multi-episode history of the 1905 Russian Revolution. However, bad weather prevented Eisenstein from shooting any other scenes and while on location in Odessa, he became obsessed with the story of the mutiny on board the battleship and the brutal assault on the citizens who came to welcome it into port. From this distance, it's hard to appreciate the effect Potemkin had on contemporary viewers. The complexity was impressive enough, but Potemkin's greatness lay in the fact it proved that symbolic imagery could have the same emotional and intellectual impact on an audience as narrative logic. Cliche perhaps, but cinema never would be the same again. The plate smashing, the fog scene, the Odessa steps massacre and the roaring lion are among the most famous images ever committed to celluloid. If you only ever see one silent, this is the one it should be.
SOURCE: EMPIRE ONLINE
Review
Denied a certificate by the British censors in 1926 and so frowned upon by the government that a distributor who tried to secure the film was "visited" by Scotland Yard, Battleship Potemkin has been seen almost exclusively in this country at film societies and workers' clubs. This is, essentially, the first time it has gone on general release here. Eisenstein's masterpiece is a film that many like to discuss knowledgeably, but surprisingly few have seen.
Don't be put off by the fact that it's an old silent movie or by the highbrow pronouncements that will undoubtedly herald its re-issue. Simply remember that without it the shower scene in Psycho would have been messy but not masterly and Kevin Costner would never have chased a pram down a staircase in The Untouchables.
Potemkin was originally planned as a brief aside in a multi-episode history of the 1905 Russian Revolution. However, bad weather prevented Eisenstein from shooting any other scenes and while on location in Odessa, he became obsessed with the story of the mutiny on board the battleship and the brutal assault on the citizens who came to welcome it into port. From this distance, it's hard to appreciate the effect Potemkin had on contemporary viewers. The complexity was impressive enough, but Potemkin's greatness lay in the fact it proved that symbolic imagery could have the same emotional and intellectual impact on an audience as narrative logic. Cliche perhaps, but cinema never would be the same again. The plate smashing, the fog scene, the Odessa steps massacre and the roaring lion are among the most famous images ever committed to celluloid. If you only ever see one silent, this is the one it should be.
SOURCE: EMPIRE ONLINE
Review
Denied a certificate by the British censors in 1926 and so frowned upon by the government that a distributor who tried to secure the film was "visited" by Scotland Yard, Battleship Potemkin has been seen almost exclusively in this country at film societies and workers' clubs. This is, essentially, the first time it has gone on general release here. Eisenstein's masterpiece is a film that many like to discuss knowledgeably, but surprisingly few have seen.
Don't be put off by the fact that it's an old silent movie or by the highbrow pronouncements that will undoubtedly herald its re-issue. Simply remember that without it the shower scene in Psycho would have been messy but not masterly and Kevin Costner would never have chased a pram down a staircase in The Untouchables.
Potemkin was originally planned as a brief aside in a multi-episode history of the 1905 Russian Revolution. However, bad weather prevented Eisenstein from shooting any other scenes and while on location in Odessa, he became obsessed with the story of the mutiny on board the battleship and the brutal assault on the citizens who came to welcome it into port. From this distance, it's hard to appreciate the effect Potemkin had on contemporary viewers. The complexity was impressive enough, but Potemkin's greatness lay in the fact it proved that symbolic imagery could have the same emotional and intellectual impact on an audience as narrative logic. Cliche perhaps, but cinema never would be the same again. The plate smashing, the fog scene, the Odessa steps massacre and the roaring lion are among the most famous images ever committed to celluloid. If you only ever see one silent, this is the one it should be.
SOURCE: EMPIRE ONLINE