anne_kool Review of 27 Dresses

27 Dresses (2008)

A hopeless romantic? I don't know. A hopeless movie nonetheless.

[2/10 · 5 April 2008]

I didn't expect this movie to be thus thoroughly lacking in intellect. Katherine Heigl's character, Jane was meant to be portrayed as a witty and smart, warm-hearted girl-next-door type as opposed to her sister Tess, the hot but dumb blond. Sadly, both of them came across to me as just plain dumb, completely lacking the ability to construct a good sentence. The relationship between the sisters I thought mostly seemed to be ripped off(and not very well might I add) from the Rose(Toni Collette)-Maggie(Cameron Diaz) relationship in 'In Her Shoes'. Edward Burns's character, perhaps deliberately was so passive it made me wonder why anybody would fall for him. Heigl's acting is mostly good barring a few scenes in which she has the look of a person just recovered from a coma and her expressions are left to the audience's imagination. The dialog is ridiculous in parts but a few well written witticisms save the day(well, almost). Highly unrealistic at times, the writers have also contradicted themselves several times with displays of absurd anomalies in the behavior of some of the characters. And may I also say, that the word "cynical" has been used far more than necessary and quite often in the wrong context even. The only redemption factor in the movie is probably James Marsden. His acting is pretty good if not great and his character seems to be the only smart one in the entire movie, other than Jane's best friend Casie(played by Judy Greer) who was personally my favorite character and the only one with any substance. The story in itself is highly clichéd, the typical naive pushover falls in love with the incidentally highly handsome young lad who helps her through the struggle of learning to put her foot down. Too predictable. I'd have liked to watch a romantic comedy that isn't mindless and whose numerous shortcomings I'm not supposed to overlook just so i can enjoy that oh-so-heart-warming moment. Romance shouldn't need to be brainless, and its audience shouldn't be thus underestimated. Overall, I'd give the movie a 2 on 10.