When you go to see a romantic comedy, like, "27 Dresses," you know it will more than likely follow the same formula as romantic comedies before. If you do not know the formula, allow me to brief you.
The lead female loves a sexy, single and successful male from afar. Hunky love object has someone in mind for his heart, and it is not the lead character.
Then girl meets cute, snarky, nice guy whom she’ll probably be annoyed with at first. Girl becomes interested in cute, snarky guy but as per guy rule, he does something stupid to mess up budding relationship.
To wind up the standard script, something happens (usually something dramatic), the now cold relationship springs into full bloom and lead girl and nice guy ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after.
The movie "27 Dresses" follows just that formula, but it is the cast that sets it apart from the standard.
Katherine Heigl plays the lead character Jane, who has been a bridesmaid at 27 weddings and has a problem of saying "yes" to everything.
Jane loves her boss George (Edward Burns) and when she goes to declare her feelings for him, he meets and falls in love with a perkier and blonder woman (Tess) who happens to be Jane’s younger sister.
The second part of the movie includes Jane’s struggle with planning her sister’s wedding to the man she loves, a hilarious bridesmaid dress montage, drunken table singing and of course, her potential love interest Kevin (James Marsden).
During the third act of "27 Dresses," Kevin, a wedding hating marriage announcement writer, betrays Jane by writing an article about her always being a bridesmaid and spends the rest of the movie trying to atone for it. As a side note, why do movies always portray writers as sneaky people who just want a story with no regard for the feelings of others? It is not the poor journalists – it’s usually the editors.
I think what makes "27 Dresses" enjoyable are the actors. Heigl and Marsden actually have some chemistry and Judy Greer (who plays Jane’s co-worker/friend Casey) has such a great screen presence. Her facial expressions at the weddings had me nodding with understanding and reminiscence.
If "27 Dresses" were a three-tier wedding cake, it would probably be in the middle. The top would be something like "Amelie" (2001) or "Bridget Jones’s Diary" (2001), while the bottom would be "Three to Tango" (1999). On second thought, it might be one of those little columns that hold the second and first layer apart. It has potential to make it to someone’s top tier.
I gave this film a C+.
Dedra Cordle is a Messenger staff writer.
