MOVIE: 27 Dresses (2008)

You’re not going to believe this, but I just spent two weeks on vacation with my mom and I only watched ONE MOVIE. The reason for this? My sister was there with us too, and now that she’s a mom herself, she comes bearing gifts: a 2 year old and a six-month old, to be specific. If I have to choose between watching movies or eating blackberries in the backyard with my nephew while my niece lies on a towel, plays with her own feet, and periodically interjects a well-timed, “ya ya ya ya!”. . . well, the choice is clear.  (Confidential message to Dukes:  Would you LOOK at the SIZE of THIS one!)

In any case, because my sister was there too, the one movie we did end up watching was, naturally, a romantic comedy. I have to confess, I probably never would’ve rented this one if it hadn’t been for my sister, which is merely another in an ever-lengthening list of reasons why older sisters rule (note: she’s only older by five minutes, so don’t be too impressed): they always get their younger sisters to do things they probably never would’ve gotten around to otherwise. Like get married, buy a house, sign up for Dish Network, spend $800 on a digital camera, and watch thoroughly entertaining romantic comedies like this one.

The premise of this movie is as predictable as rom-coms always are – one of their most endearing qualities, actually, is that they are so often so very much the same. It’s about a young woman named Jane (Katherine Heigl) who is, as the saying goes, “always a bridesmaid, never a bride.” In fact, she’s been a bridesmaid exactly 27 times, and she’s saved every single one of the dresses because she is so, SO very insanely in love with weddings. But when she finds out her younger sister is about to get married — to the very man she’s in love with herself (her boss, coincidentally named George but thankfully not as much of a feckless dweeb as Heigl’s George on Gray’s Anatomy — sorry, T.R., but I spent most of last season wanting to kick you in the shins) — she finally snaps.

There to watch her total meltdown is a reporter whose beat is the “Commitments” page in the New York Journal. He writes about weddings, in other words, and Jane has been a huge fan of his for years. But when she realizes he’s the guy who has been wooing her — the guy who keeps telling her how lame he thinks weddings and marriages are — she’s absolutely incensed. And, as it so often goes in rom-coms, that means she’s destined to fall head-over-heels for him.

Yes, predictable. But also surprisingly funny and sweet. And though at first I wasn’t sure I could really see Katherine Heigl and James Marsden as a couple, by the end of the film I was definitely rooting for them to get together (which is more than I can say for the pairing of Heigl with Seth Rogan in the utterly-disappointing Knocked Up). I myself am married to a cynical and cantankerous newspaper reporter, and they have their own special charms that only those of us who know them well can appreciate.  So, I found myself able to relate to this movie, even though I’ve only been a bridesmaid once and my dress was totally awesome.

I definitely recommend this one if you like sweet movies with happy endings. Or if you too have heard the phrase, “And if you shorten it, you can wear it again!” one too many times in your life!

Very fun!

[Netflix me | Buy me]

Genre:  Romantic comedy
Cast:  Katherine Heigl, James “Cyclops” Marsden, Malin Akerman, Edward Burns, Judy Greer

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Tags: Romantic Comedy