27 dresses - out now
Like slipping into a pair of old shoes, 27 Dresses is the epitome of comforting predictability, following the rom-com rulebook to the letter.
Jane (Katherine Heigl) is a serial bridesmaid, with 27 gaudy hideous dresses hanging in her cupboard to prove it, who spends so much of her time caring for other people that she’s neglected to find a husband for herself. She is a wedding obsessive, subscribing to bridal magazines and cutting out wedding stories from newspapers in spite of the fact that she’s single. Jane is secretly pining after her dull boss, the obligatory romantic red-herring in the tale, who is cruelly snatched from her by her sexy younger sister. Meanwhile she remains oblivious to the attentions of Kevin, a dashing, cynical wedding reporter from the local rag, who has found himself a scoop with Jane’s story.
As with How to Lose a Guy in 10 days and My Best Friend’s Wedding, director Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada) mixes in the sweet with the sharp, making the film’s banal assumptions somewhat easier to stomach. The movie’s real redemption however comes in the form of the two main leads. Heigl is eminently likeable as the bright, sharp-witted but browbeaten Jane, and the chemistry between her and Kevin is occasionally electrifying. His charm, good looks and cockiness will soon win him over to female audiences but bafflingly, Jane takes far longer to catch on.
Essentially this cliché-ridden film delivers the romantic fantasy its audience is looking for and does so with unexpected energy and wit. Even though scenes such as the one in which Kevin and Jane find themselves stranded and end up dancing on a bar are ridiculously far-fetched, we cannot help being swept along by the romance of it all.
