The premise to the new romantic comedy 27 Dresses is that Jane (Knocked Up’s Katherine Heigl) is a single girl living in New York who has been a bride’s maid 27 times, yet never been married herself. If you know what Heigl looks like, you’re thinking, "Yeah, right! She’d never be single." But when you see the movie, you quickly learn why.
The movie opens with Jane being the go-to bride’s maid who solves every problem at a friend’s wedding. Once the ceremony is over, Jane runs out to catch a cab to another wedding, where she is also the go-to bride’s maid. The opening sequences show her going back and forth over and over again fixing things. Once the exhausting long night ends, Jane goes home and, instead of going to bed, opens up a newspaper and starts cutting out bridal announcements. And it’s then you realize why she’s single and why she’s been a bride’s maid 27 times – it’s because she’s absolutely crazy.
27 Dresses is the most typical chick-flick ever made. It plays off every single cliché you’ve ever seen. There’s the perfect guy boss that Jane’s too in love with to confess her undying love.
There’s the sister, nicknamed Bridezilla, who steals the boss away because Jane didn’t speak up. There’s even the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days story going on with a wedding journalist (Enchanted and X-Men’s James Marsden) who’s trying to become close to her so that he can write a page-one article on how crazy she is. And guess what, he ends up really falling for her. Do you think the article will be printed, she’ll read it, and then he’ll have to win her back again? If so, that wouldn’t be very original.
Other than being completely unoriginal, 27 Dresses’ biggest flaw comes from creating a world of characters that you hardly care about. You don’t care about the gorgeous, but potty-mouthed Jane. You don’t care about Bridezilla. You don’t care about the boss. The only person you want to see more of isn’t in the movie enough – Marden’s journalist.
If you’re thinking of seeing 27 Dresses, please reconsider or wait until it hits the cheap theaters. There’s only one scene in the movie that’s actually entertaining which involves Heigl and Marsden stranded in a bar drunkenly singing Elton John’s "Benny and the Jets," with the funniest lyrics. Other than that, be prepared to be disappointed.
