All of this comes to a head when (not a spoiler) Emily disappears. When she does, so does much of the Lively/Kendrick interplay that makes the movie so much fun. The overlong second half gets lost in plot mechanics that are less interesting than the character dynamics, and in some cases conflict with what we know of the women (there is the sense that the story, adapted from Bell's novel, has been toned down for the big screen).