Tuesday, February 19, 2008

27 DRESSES (2008)

27 DRESSES
**½
Rating: PG-13

Length: 107 minutes
Director: Anne Fletcher (Step Up)
Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada; Three to Tango)
Starring: Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Edward Burns, Melora Hardin, Judy Greer, Malin Akerman, Anne Fletcher

27 Dresses” is a romantic-comedy that plays completely by the rules. So if you’re a fan of the genre (and ladies you know most of you are) - this is going to be your cup of tea. Jane (Katherine Heigl) is always a bridesmaid (27 times as the title states) and, of course, never a bride. When she was just a child, her father (Brian Kerwin) was left widowed and heartbroken. Jane had to take over the motherly role for her younger sister, Tess (played as an adult by Malin Akerman). It was during caring for Tess at their cousin’s (Jane Pfitsch) wedding that Jane, helping her cousin with a last second near disaster, fell in love with weddings. When the film opens, she is frantically taking a taxi from one wedding to another. Desperate to please both of her friends- even if they might not return the favor if it came down to it. She is so devoted to helping everyone else out with their weddings that she has given herself no time for her a love life of her own (all together now: "awwww"). She is hopelessly in love with her oblivious boss, George (Edward Burns- phoning it in here), but is too scared to profess her feelings. When Tess comes to live with her, George takes immediate notice to her instead and, before you know it, it’s Tess that is engaged to George. Never willing to rock the boat, Jane is stuck with the painful task of literally putting together their wedding. Her only ally, besides her horny co-worker best friend (Judy Greer), is a cynical newspaper columnist, Kevin (James Marsden) who covers local weddings. Kevin is assigned to cover Tess and George’s wedding, but once he discovers Jane’s bridesmaid past, he begins to find he has a better story on his hands. Will Jane realize that Kevin is better for her than George? Will she finally stand up her to snotty sister? Will she finally get that dream wedding she’s always wanted for herself? Well, I won’t give anything away, but let’s just stay if you’ve seen one of these type of movies you’ve basically seen them all. Still, there’s a good deal of charm here, mainly thanks to Heigl. After her star turns in TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and last year’s excellent “Knocked Up”, she is proving to be a real presence. Stick someone like Jessica Alba in this role and the movie would be a complete dud. Heigl proves that she has the star power to carry a movie on her own- even if it’s familiar ground.

Download Soundtrack MP3s:
Mark Ronson (featuring Amy Winehouse) - Valerie
Elton John- Benny and the Jets

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Buy the Soundtrack here

Website

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I gave it 3 stars!!! Exactly what it was advertised to be -- a predictable romantic comedy that's perfect for snuggling up to. It's exactly what they're talking about when they mention "girly movies that boys secretly like to watch with you"