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Women
will cry, men may laugh at '27 Dresses'
By Maddie Wilson
January 23, 2008 | She felt like she had "just
found out (her) favorite love song" was written
about a sandwich.
This sentence, muttered by main character Jane (Katherine
Heigl), portrays the hopelessly-devoted-to-love tone
of Anne Fletcher's 27 Dresses. Any woman can
sit back, watch this movie, cheer for and cry with Jane,
being able to completely relate to her frustrating love
life. Any man can join in too, but will probably prefer
to laugh at the funny Bridezilla jokes instead
of putting himself in Jane's high heels as she courageously
attempts to control the emotional strife in her life.
Jane's non-stop life revolves around two entities: work
and weddings. When she's not at work, she's at a friend's
wedding serving as maid of honor, which is not always
so honorable. She faithfully takes care of any request
of the bride, which ranges from ordering the cake to
holding up the bride's dress while she uses the bathroom.
Jane never utters so much as a complaint, even when
she has to change maid of honor dresses in the backseat
of a cab as the driver takes her to and from two weddings
happening at the same time.
After a day of work and weddings, Jane goes home to
stuff her latest frilly outfit into her closet bursting
with her past maid of honor dresses, all of which stand
as reminders that her special day is nowhere in sight.
Things change, however, when Jane's blond, flirty, younger
sister, Tess (Malin Akerman), comes to town for a visit
and wins the heart of Jane's boss, who Jane is madly
in love with, but has no intentions to ever tell him.
George the boss (Edward Burns) quickly proposes to Tess,
resulting in heartache for Jane (who happened to awkwardly
witness the proposal, which involved tubby men serenading
with violins). Never one to cause any strife, Jane accepts
the position of maid of honor for her sister with a
polite, but forced smile.
About this time in'the movie, prince charming shows
up to the pleasure of all the females viewing the movie.
Brown, curly-haired, blue-eyed wedding reporter Kevin
(James Marsden) enters the scene as he takes on'the
assignment to cover Tess and George's wedding. Kevin
becomes more fascinated, however, with the story of
Jane's 27 maid of honor dresses, and frankly with Jane
herself.
Tension builds in the hearts of the -- most likely --
female viewers as Jane's emotions run wild while she
enviously watches smooch after smooch from Tess and
George while trying not to act flattered at Kevin's
sudden interest and requests for drinks. Her patience
is pushed to the limit as Jane gets stuck running wedding
errands with Kevin -- he insists he must be present
for all wedding preparations to gain background for
his article. Kevin somehow seems to force Jane to look
inside herself to see the damage she is really causing
herself, and Jane does not appreciate having to do that.
It brings out her pent-up anger until it finally unleashes
and Jane breaks down in a bar with Kevin, lets herself
get completely drunk, dances on'the counter singing
along to Bennie and the Jets, and ends by making out
with Kevin for everyone to see.
Most of the female viewers would be complacent if the
movie ended here with Jane falling into the loving arms
of handsome Kevin. But, Hollywood knows better than
to give the audience what they want. There has to be
some conflict. So drama breaks out between Kevin and
Jane, Jane purposely attempts to ruin Tess' life, and
if it weren't for the sisters' wise, understanding father
Hal (Brian Kerwin), the plot might have crash landed.
27 Dresses never has a slow moment, and keeps
the audience laughing out loud. If you fall into the
category of the sentimental but funny, chick-flick-loving
audience, go see this movie. It will leave you with
a tear in your eye and a laugh in your belly.
CS
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