Every young girl has fantasies about her ideal wedding: what her dress will look like, what flowers she will carry down the aisle and—most importantly—who will be standing at the altar waiting for her.
27 Dresses is a charming movie about a woman named Jane, played by Katherine Heigl, who is in love with weddings. She loves them so much, in fact, that she has been a bridesmaid in (surprise!) 27 weddings and has kept her dresses from every one.
She is an unofficial wedding planner who helps to make the most special day of a woman’s life absolutely perfect. The only problem? Jane’s younger sister Tess, played by Malin Akerman, is engaged to the man that Jane has been in love with for years. Not only this, but she also has guilted Jane into planning their wedding.
When a columnist for the New York Journal hears of Jane’s interesting little obsession with being a bridesmaid, he wants to dig a little deeper into her life. The rest of the film follows the events and twists to come.
To tell the truth, I was expecting to leave the theater quite disappointed. The commercials and trailers that I had seen prior to the movie struck me as a little bit cliché and annoying, but to my surprise I enjoyed 27 Dresses far more than I would like to admit. I am still a female just as much as I am a writer, so I find that I easily get sucked into “chick flicks” that are probably not going to turn into “Best Film of the Year” nominees.
Even still, 27 Dresses is a charming film with a good balance between humor and the mushy stuff. Katherine Heigl does a good job with her character; she was by far the best part of the movie, breathing spunk and life into her plain Jane role.
Supporting actors Brian Kerwin (Hal), James Marsden (Kevin), Judy Greer (Casey) and Malin Akerman (Jane’s sister, Tess) all give pretty good performances, though they still could have been much better.
On the down side, the directing was nothing special, the story wasn’t very original and the acting, as mentioned, wasn’t the best I’ve seen.
The film was written by Aline Brosh McKenna, who is also responsible for The Devil Wears Prada and Laws of Attraction.
Her writing was cute and funny, but it didn’t stand out from other romantic comedies. Like everything else, it went something like this: boy meets girl…they fall in love…happily ever after.
Anne Fletcher’s directing style was nothing out of the ordinary for a romantic comedy.
There was no fancy camera work or difficult camera angles. It’s just plain old romantic comedy directing. But I suppose I can cut her some slack, because directing isn’t as important as the other aspects with movies of this genre.
Although 27 Dresses isn’t something to get overly excited about, I’m sure there will be plenty who enjoy it. It has a lot to offer those who enjoy this genre of film. So don’t give up on 27 Dresses just yet. Go see it and you may or may not find out that it will address your every romantic comedy need.