27 Dresses (2007)
NETFLIX SYNOPSIS: Tired of being a perpetual bridesmaid after helping 27 friends tie the knot, altruistic Jane (Katherine Heigl) finds herself facing her worst nightmare as her younger sister (Malin Akerman) announces her engagement to the man Jane secretly adores. But when Jane meets the charming Kevin (James Marsden), will she beat her sibling to the altar? Edward Burns and Judy Greer also star in this breezy romantic comedy from director Anne Fletcher.
REVIEW: Yeah, I’m a guy who loves a good rom-com – “chick-flick” – so sue me. I’m always on the lookout for a fresh one, thus I probably end up watching a lot of movies that aren’t really worth my time, but occasionally you end up w/something special.
Unfortunately, this really isn’t one of them. It isn’t dead-awful, like say, “Failure to Launch”, but it’s totally predictable, by-the-numbers, and contrived as can be. The odd thing about it is that one of its greatest strengths is also one of its greatest weaknesses, the lead actress. I’m a fan of Katherine Heigl from seeing her on the tv show “Grey’s Anatomy”. She’s quite a good actress and I suspect one day we may see her do some fine dramatic work if her beauty doesn’t get in the way of the audience’s perception of her capabilities. The problem here is that Heigl – blond, statuesque, voluptuous, gorgeous – is supposed to be playing this shrinking violet, the girl nobody notices, which is, to put it mildly, patently ridiculous – only a blind man wouldn’t notice Katherine Heigl. And she does everything right, she plays the role to perfection and is the best thing in the movie, she simply doesn’t look the part. I always thought this was one of the reasons for Sandra Bullock’s success in these kinds of films – she’s quite pretty, but she also looks like the ordinary girl-next-door, so we believe her in these kinds of roles.
As for the story, we know exactly what’s going to happen several steps before the characters, there’s nothing innovative, no risks are taken, it’s all so tame. The only thing missing at the end when the two lovers end up together is that she doesn’t have to chase him down at the airport before he leaves. At least maybe even bad rom-coms have left that tired cliche at the boarding-gate.
1.5 stars
Harold
