Review: 27 Dresses

Plot: Serial bridesmaid Jane (Katherine Heigl) yearns for the perfect wedding. Sadly, the man of her dreams, her rich boss George (Edward Burns) is engaged to her beautiful, yet vacuous younger sister, Tess (Malin Akerman). Forced to plan their wedding, Jane not only has to contend with her fussy sister, but also has to deal with a bitter, cynical reporter, Kevin (James Marsden), assigned to profile the newly engaged couple.

Review: All in all, 27 DRESSES isn’t THAT bad of a film. It’s certainly better than P.S I LOVE YOU, and leading actors Katherine Heigl & James Marsden are actually quite appealing. Katherine Heigl’s being touted as the next romantic comedy superstar, and I must admit- she definitely has star quality. This was on full display in KNOCKED UP and is probably one of the main reasons people tune into Grey’s Anatomy week after week. Here she takes center stage, and she’s fine- but I think she’s far too young & beautiful to be playing such a lonely character.

For his part, James Marsden pulls off his first bona-fide leading man role with panache. He’s definitely improved as an actor over the last few years (I was never a fan of Marsden as Cyclops) – as shown by his scene stealing turns in the recent hits HAIRSPRAY & ENCHANTED. He brings a loose easy going quality to this thinly written role, and I imagine that sooner or later Marsden will hit the big time. Sadly- 27 DRESSES will not be his ticket to fame and fortune.

The big problem with the film is that it’s very poorly crafted. Director Anne Fletcher is primarily a dance choreographer- with limited experience behind the camera. This is painfully obvious throughout the film. No effort has been made to give the film an interesting look- so the film comes off looking like a second rate sitcom. The only scene that has any energy is a big musical number that’s extremely awkward and should have been left on the cutting room floor.

Another big problem is the highly touted script from THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA scribe Aline Brosh McKenna. Yes- PRADA was an above average chick flick, but that film was anchored by an award worthy performance by Meryl Streep. I mean, does anybody even remember any thing else about that film? It was pretty much a one-woman show, and Streep is nowhere to be found here.

In a recent Vanity Fair article, Heigl openly criticized KNOCKED UP (to be fair, she later recanted- saying her comments were taken out of context). If 27 DRESSES is her idea of a good film, than she’s in for trouble, as 27 DRESSES is no KNOCKED UP. Where that film strove to more or less realistically portray a non- fairytale relationship from the cynical male point of view, 27 DRESSES does exactly the opposite. Now there’s nothing wrong with a good fairly tale- as long as it’s done with panache (like ENCHANTED).

Predictably, 27 DRESSES follows the crappy romantic comedy formula to a T, and does not have a shred of originality. Basically- its girl meets boy, girl hates boy, girl and boy lead an entire bar in a jaunty sing-a-long of Benny and the Jets, girl loves boy. There, I’ve just saved you 90 minutes- now go rent KNOCKD UP instead.

My Grade: 4/10