27 Dresses (2008)

After serving as a bridesmaid 27 times, a young woman wrestles with the idea of standing by her sister's side as her sibling marries the man she's secretly in love with.

Director:

Anne Fletcher

Writer:

Aline Brosh McKenna

Stars:

Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Malin Akerman

5 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brian Kerwin	...	Hal
Charli Barcena	...	Young Tess
Peyton List	...	Young Jane (as Peyton Roi List)
Jane Pfitsch	...	Cousin Lisa
Katherine Heigl	...	Jane
Jennifer Lim	...	Bridal Salesgirl #1
Brigitte Bourdeau	...	Salesgirl Olga
Judy Greer	...	Casey
Danielle Skraastad	...	Bride Suzanne
Marilyn L. Costello	...	Bride Suzanne's Minister
James Marsden	...	Kevin
Michael Paul	...	Taxi Driver Khaleel (as Michael Ziegfeld)
Yetta Gottesman	...	Hip Bridesmaid
Erin Fogel	...	Shari Rabinowitz
Bern Cohen	...	Rabbi

Storyline

Two things about Jane: she never says no to her friends (she's been a bridesmaid 27 times and selflessly plans friends' weddings), and she's in love with her boss, George, nurturing dreams of a lovely, romantic wedding of her own. She meets Kevin, a cynical writer who finds her attractive, and that same week her flirtatious younger sister Tess comes to town. Jane silently watches George fall for Tess, a manipulative pretender. Worse, Jane may be called upon to plan their wedding. Meanwhile, Kevin tries to get Jane's attention and has an idea that may advance his career. Can Jane uncork her feelings?

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Plot Keywords:

wedding | love | bridesmaid | friend | boss | 

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Taglines:

She's about to find the perfect fit.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox [France] 20th Century Fox [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 January 2008 (Canada)

Also Known As:

27 robes

Filming Locations:

Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,752,897 (UK) (28 March 2008)

Gross:

$76,806,312 (USA) (23 May 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, Dune Entertainment III

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While Jane and Kevin are in the bar, you can hear a Josh Kelley song in the background. In real life, Josh Kelley is married to Katherine Heigl.

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Goofs

In the scene where the sister is flipping through the newspaper clips, the article text doesn't match the headline (it's some completely unrelated article, with a wedding headline pasted on).

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Quotes

Jane's Aunt: Must be so hard to watch your younger sister get married before you.
Jane: Yes. Then I remember that I still get to have hot hate sex with random strangers and I feel SO much better!

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Crazy Credits

Primary closing credits (director, producers, cinematographer, etc.) done as by-lines in a newspaper. Main acting credits are displayed as wedding announcement photos and captions.

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #20.50 (2011)

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Soundtracks

Anna
Written by Simon Kirke
Performed by Bad Company
Courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group
By Arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

As much quality as a Primark special - 45%

After watching "Father Of The Bride" the other day in the run-up to our own wedding, I suspect my bride-to-be wanted to get in on the wedding-movie action as well when she suggested we watched this. Having seen the trailer at the cinema before another anodyne rom-com ("The Accidental Husband", if you must know), we took a chance on this but sadly, what we ended up with was another uninspired rom-com that stretches its paper-thin premise beyond breaking point. How many more of these can Hollywood keep chugging out before we get tired of them?

Katherine Heigl stars as Jane, a woman who has dedicated her life to her friends and her job as personal assistant to her boss, George (Edward Burns). Having been a bridesmaid 27 times, she is determined to make her next dress the one she wears for her wedding but unfortunately, her younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman) meets and falls in love with George. What makes things worse is that Jane secretly loves George and resents Tess, who naturally asks Jane to organise everything and to be bridesmaid. To make matters worse, ambitious reporter Kevin (James Marsden) gets hold of the story and begins to hound Jane, much to her annoyance.

I'm not sure which character we're supposed to identify with the most because nearly everyone in "27 Dresses" is pretty unlikeable. Granted, the back story is absurd anyway - I doubt anyone is as much of a sad sack as Heigl's character or if they are, they are unlikely to be as effortlessly pretty. But that's typical of the film as a whole, full to bursting with pretty people struggling with pretty people's issues like a missing Filofax or closets full of gaudy dresses not closing properly. Basically, I didn't care what happened to any of them even though only the thickest simpleton couldn't guess what was going to happen. There were no shocks, no surprises and worse for a rom-com, precious few laughs. None of the principal actors are known for their comedic roles and it shows - someone with experience of making us laugh is generally considered a good thing when making a film designed to make us laugh!

It would be easy to say that I didn't enjoy this film because I'm not the target audience and I'll hold my hands up to that. But my Better Half (who wanted to watch this, remember) found her attention wandering and didn't enjoy it that much either. It's too implausible, predictable and just not that engaging for viewers. Everything about the movie is standard - the actors aren't laughably bad but they're not hugely entertaining either. Maybe we're both getting tired of rom-coms but "27 Dresses" is not a great example of the genre. It's not as bad as "The Accidental Husband" - it doesn't treat you like a moron, for starters - but due to the fact that its too implausible to be taken seriously, you never give it your full attention and give up halfway through. Heigl should stick to "Grey's Anatomy" and wait for her breakthrough movie to come along. It didn't do George Clooney any harm...