Everyone knows the cliché: “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.” The movie “27 Dresses” takes this saying to a whole new level.
Katherine Heigl plays Jane, her friends’ go-to girl when choosing bridesmaids. She’ll help the bride-to-be find a cake, a florist and invitations and will even hold up her dress while she goes to the bathroom.
Jane has donned 27 hideously poofy bridesmaid dresses, including a “Gone with the Wind”-inspired number and a black dress with a spiked choker for a goth wedding, all of which are stuffed into a huge closet in her Manhattan apartment.
Jane looks forward to the day when she will be the bride and won’t have to lift a finger. Yet, a kink is thrown into this plan: Jane’s younger, more attractive sister Tess (Charli Barcena) falls for Jane’s boss, George (Edward Burns), with whom Jane is secretly in love. Now, it’s on Jane to organize the wedding in three weeks.
Even more hijinks ensue when the devilishly handsome reporter Kevin Doyle (James Marsden) decides to write an article about Tess and George’s wedding for the wedding section of a newspaper, but ends up writing about Jane’s 28th stint as a bridesmaid.
While “27 Dresses” was completely predictable and full of “chick flick” clichés (a trip to yoga class, the best friend who puts everything into perspective, a kiss in the rain, a drunken karaoke number and, of course, numerous montages of bridesmaid dresses and wedding planning), the movie is still completely enjoyable.
The movie is at first reminiscent of 2001’s “The Wedding Planner” starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey, although “27 Dresses” has wittier lines and a much stronger cast.
Sappy feel-good story lines are the reasons chick flicks are so popular in the first place.
You may not leave feeling any smarter, but you will leave with a smile on your face because “27 Dresses” is pure candy-coated entertainment with a dash of charming cynicism.
This film is surely going to make Heigl a full-fledged movie star, with the help of her star role in the blockbuster hit “Knocked Up” this past summer. She’ll probably be in many more romantic comedies that would once have starred Julia Roberts.
Marsden was the perfect choice for the cynical but sexy reporter. His charm and smile alone are enough to draw the ladies to the box office.
Leave the guys at home for this movie, and bring your girlfriends for an early Valentine’s Day treat.
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