[My cousin D has big boobs. Fact. She is also a girly-girl, good-natured and smiles a lot with round apple cheeks. D's got some time on her hands so I asked her nicely to write some content for the blog because you know...we can't live on quick quips alone.]
ROMANCE/COMEDY (U.S)
Cast: Katherine Hiegl, James Marsden, Edward Burns,
Malin Akerman, Judy Greer
Director: Anne Fletcher
Screenplay: Aline Brosh McKenna
Music: Randy Edelman
The romantic comedy formula is demonstrated in 27 Dresses very well. And it’s not just any romantic comedy, but one involving a wedding(s), which has been done an obscene number of times (see The Wedding Planner, lather, rinse, repeat). And while it does not offer anything new to the genre, it does not take away the fact that it’s still an enjoyable film. Plus Edward Burns is hella sexy.
Jane (Hiegl) is a woman who loves weddings (wait, I think I’ve seen this movie before) and loves helping her friends plan their own wedding (dress, cake, invites, the works), and has been a bridesmaid 27 times. She is a pushover, has the inability to say ‘No’ and is in love with her boss George (Burns) but lacks the courage to confess her feelings. Then flies in her fun, frivolous little sister Tess (Akerman) who meets George and they proceed to fall in love. Now Jane is faced with the daunting task of planning her sister’s wedding to the man she loves.
Jane also meets Kevin (Marsden) who is a Wedding Announcements writer for the New York Journal and is interested in doing a (secret) piece on Jane and her obsession (bet you can see where this is going). Kevin is a brash, cynical character (in case we didn’t get that, they call him ‘cynical’ at least a dozen times throughout the movie) while Jane is hopeful and sweet. The two are almost polar opposites, so obviously they are going to fall madly in love with each other.
The characters are quite two dimensional and the script doesn’t really help the matter. But despite these drawbacks you still manage to care for the two lead roles. This is because they display enough chemistry between them that you’ll want to know how they’ll end up together (it’s not a spoiler, it is merely inevitable) and what their happy ending will be (one imagines that it’ll involve some kind of wedding).
Hielg has proves that she has drawing power, that she can open a film almost by herself. Marsden has proved he doesn’t need to be a superhero of some sort or other. They both are charismatic and display a good sense of comic timing. The others do amicable jobs in their small roles, although I have to say Akerman’s character is quite annoying.
Overall, while it is not in my top ten romantic comedies list, it is still something I can watch again, which is a testament of a good romance movie as it won’t get stale anytime soon. Clocking at almost two hours it feels a tad longer than it is, nonetheless I would still recommend for you to take a night off, sit back and enjoy this lighthearted film.
~ D' GoodEgg
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