Movie Info
Movie Info
- Run Time
- 1 hour and 40 minutes
- Rating
- PG-13
VP Content Ratings
- Violence
- 1/10
- Language
- 2/10
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak
the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one
another.
Ephesians 4:25
A good cast does the most it can with a weak script in this film directed by Luke Greenfield. Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Darcy (Kate Hudson) have been best friends since childhood. Frivolous, fun- loving Darcy is the alpha dog in the relationship, Rachel always giving way to keep her friend happy. Back in law school Rachel and Dex (Colin Egglesfield) had studied together. Although he had never declared his love for her, Rachel had harbored hopes that they would become more than friends.
However, when Rachel introduces in a cafe Darcy and Dex, and Darcy tells her friend to ask him on a date, Rachel replies No, that they are “just friends.” Then the flippant Darcy tells Dex to ask her out, and he feels he has to do so. Taken aback, the docile Rachel gets up and leaves the two together. Dex follows her out to see if she is okay, and she still holds in her feelings concerning him, saying that she is fine.
On his part Dex has been about as passive as Rachel. In law school he had confided that he really wanted to become a teacher, but was studying law because that was what his father wanted. There had been several moments when it seemed that he was about to express his love for Rachel, but now these are all in the past, with Darcy deep into making her wedding plans.
Rachel hold in her feelings until the night of her 30th birthday party, when she and Dex leave and share a cab together. Both under the influence of alcohol, they kiss, and almost before we know it, they are in her bed having sex together. The next morning they wake up to the sound of Darcy’s strained voice on the telephone answering machine. She is demanding to speak to Rachel and wondering why she cannot reach Dex.
There follows a series of complicated events during which both lovers have ample opportunities to tell Darcy about what they have done. Neither does, of course, the main reason being that it would cut the movie too short. They let Darcy continue to babble on and complete her wedding plans. The one sensible person in this mess is Ethan (John Krasinski), Rachel’s colleague and confidant at the law firm where the two work. He not only givers her sensible advice, but when she follows him to London, it looks like the plot might take an unexpected twist. I suppose one can watch this film as a cautionary tale teaching us to speak up and assert ourselves lest we land in dire consequences.
For Reflection/Discussion
Spoilers below.
1. How would you describe Darcy and Rachel? Compare them. Have you relationships like theirs, or no of some?
2. How can we see this as a cautionary tale of the consequences of bad decisions?
3. How does their giving in lead to deception? How is this harmful to Darcy as well as to themselves?
4. Do any of the three principals show any signs of depth or of spirituality: for instance what do they do at their parties? Do we learn why Rachel went into law? Does it seem to be a job for her, or a calling? (Do we even know what aspect of law she is in?)
5. What did you think when Rachel went to London and met with Ethan? How might he have been a better mate for Rachel than Dex? Would you have like such a resolution better than the way in which the film did conclude?