27 Dresses

review updated January 30, 2008

What little girl hasn’t fantasized about her trip down the aisle in a dress usually reserved for princesses to see her prince, her knight in shining armor beaming at her as she approaches to take his hand in marriage and begin her happily ever after? For Jane, the fantasy is all consuming, a quiet little obsession, which she thinks is a calling and nurtures through helping everyone else’s fantasy become a reality. Thus, she becomes the perfect bridesmaid, paying attention to every little detail as if it were her own, living vicariously through the happiness of others while she hopes “someday it will be my day.”

Katherine Heigel is wonderfully warm as “plain” Jane who is always the bridesmaid in this by-the-numbers romantic comedy “27 Dresses.” Written by Aline Brosh McKenna (“The Devil Wears Prada”), the film makes fun of the wedding industry and culture by relying on several age-old jokes, like women vying to catch the bouquet and, of course, the dreadful bridesmaid dress which brides think can be worn again by simply shortening it.

Although this film is predictable and a bit formulaic, Katherine Heigel is a delight to watch and completely believable as Jane. James Marsden, perhaps best known as Cyclops from the “X-Men” trilogy, plays Kevin “Matthew” Doyle, a cynical wedding writer eager to find his “ticket out of the taffeta ghetto.” Marsden seemed to rely on his boyish grin throughout his performance. Malin Ackerman has a Cameron Diaz quality to her look but gave only a passing performance as Jane’s bratty sister Tess. Even with mediocrity surrounding her, Heigel’s performance will have audiences rooting for Jane to find true love. At least the Hollywood version of true love, that is.

For the Christian who knows that true love is much more than a fairytale, this movie will still be entertaining. Jane’s character is much like Martha in Luke 10:38-42, busy and pre-occupied with the well being of others so much that she doesn’t take the time to nurture the relationship that will benefit her own well-being.

The most glaring misuse of scripture was Marsden’s character misquoting 1 Corinthians 13 saying, “Love is patient, love is kind, love is slowly losing your mind.” Midway through the film, Heigel’s character says she is “Jesus” in response to a snide comment by Doyle. There were at least five or more references to God or Jesus Christ’s name taken in vain. The use of profanity was an average of 20 or more references for the entire movie. The first instance of such profanity does occur within the first five minutes of the film, however. Another use of profanity was purposefully masked when Jane screams a partially heard sexual expletive in exasperation.

There were two brief sexual encounters shown, both outside of marriage, but most was left to the viewers’ imaginations. Some of the humor was based on sexual innuendo and getting drunk. There was no nudity shown. One scene implied nudity but did not reveal anything more than a woman’s shoulders. In addition, there was a scene with an actress in a corsette and tap pants (or boy shorts) revealed for a couple of minutes prior to putting on a wedding dress.

Overall, I would recommend this movie for adults because Jane's character is believable and relatable to many women. Although most of the jokes are familiar, they are still amusing. I do not recommend this movie for children due to the profanity and sexual innuendo.

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “Katherine Heigl, who earlier this year got “Knocked Up” in the motion picture comedy from Judd Apatow, and nabbed an Emmy® for her starring role as a surgical resident in ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ is always a bridesmaid but never a bride in the romantic comedy ‘27 Dresses.’ From the screenwriter of ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ ‘27 Dresses’ centers on Jane (Heigl), an idealistic, romantic and completely selfless woman… a perennial bridal attendant whose own happy ending is nowhere in sight. But when younger sister Tess captures the heart of Jane's boss—with whom she is secretly in love—Jane begins to reexamine her ‘always-a-bridesmaid…’ lifestyle.

Jane has always been good at taking care of others, but not so much in looking after herself. Her entire life has been about making people happy—and she has a closet full of 27 bridesmaid dresses to prove it. One memorable evening, Jane manages to shuttle between wedding receptions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, a feat witnessed by Kevin (James Marsden), a newspaper reporter who realizes that a story about this wedding junkie is his ticket off the newspaper's bridal beat.

Jane finds Kevin's cynicism counter to everything she holds dear—namely weddings, and the two lock horns. Further complicating Jane's once perfectly-ordered life is the arrival of younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman). Tess immediately captures the heart of Jane's boss, George (Edward Burns). Tess enlists her always-accommodating sister to plan yet another wedding—Tess and George's—but Jane's feelings for him lead to shocking revelations… and maybe the beginning of a new life.”

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

• Positive
• Neutral
• Negative
• Young people