27 Dresses

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Jane (Heigl) is the quintessential 'yes person', who also appears to be forever the bridesmaid and never the bride - having worn the 'runner-up garment' 27 times. After her younger, model-like sister returns home from Europe, Jane's world is turned upside down when the love of her life (and her boss) George (Burns) falls for her sister's somewhat counterfeit charms. As Jane's affability is tested to the limit with their fledgling romance, a cynical stranger (Marsden) vies for her affections. There is something about Katherine Heigl that transcends the tag of habitual romantic comedy performer, besides being beautiful and talented - and it's that her naturallly goofy performances shine through, even when headlining the generic likes of 27 Dresses. Here, her character is hardly original (having appeared in basically every Matthew McConaughey film for the past decade), yet the young actress succeeds in injecting that special something into Jane that engages us, despite her predictable predicament. Sure, the direction is infinitely bland and wholly uninspired, with the script seemingly ticking off every cliche in the romantic comedy handbook as it goes along; but 27 Dresses proves that talent can float to the top when initially appearing to drown in surrounding excrement. Another actor grasping his first real romantic lead is James Marsden, who charms with a surprisingly pessimistic character, despite being underwritten to the point of suffocation. We learn one thing about his past in a throwaway comment that is never touched-on again, yet it doesn't manage to hurt his noteworthy turn. For all intents and purposes, this film would have been rendered barely-watchable without those two, as Ed Burns phones in another performance, and Malin Akerman draws the shortest end of the stick as the spoilt sister who takes advantage of her elder sibling's kind-hearted nature. Undemanding romantic comedy fanatics, will of course, eat all of this up; for the rest of us, there's the two excellent leads, but not a lot else.