An above-average romantic comedy and welcome addition to a marketplace glutted with mediocrity, 27 Dresses is the story of one woman's struggle for love & sanity.

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

It Happened One Night, The Philadelphia Story, When Harry Met Sally, and Something’s Gotta Give have two things in common with 27 Dresses: they’re all romantic comedies, and they all follow the classic formula. You know the one: boy meets/reunites with girl; boy and girl bicker/flirt; boy and girl fall in love but don’t know it/won’t admit it; boy and girl marry/remarry (although to be fair, It Happened One Night didn’t so much follow as invent the formula).

While 27 Dresses may not quite achieve the quality of those films, it’s a worthy addition to a saturated genre.

Audiences are Suckers for Great Chemistry

With echoes of Never Been Kissed and My Best Friend’s Wedding reverberating throughout the story, 27 Dresses isn’t necessarily the most original romantic comedy out there. But then how many ways can people fall in love? As long as the story is told in an original way, the audience will show up. Heck, we’ll show up to watch the same people fall in love all over again, from Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, to Doris Day and Rock Hudson, Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant.

According to director Anne Fletcher in the DVD featurette “The Wedding Party”, 27 Dresses aspires to the pantheon of the latter couple. Hepburn and Grant had great comedic and romantic chemistry and a relationship Fletcher describes as a partnership of equals, which Katherine Heigl and James Marsden achieve. They’re each at their best in the other’s company, whether they’re being antagonistic or ripping each other’s clothes off.

Keeping the Comedy Romantic

It’s rare to find a romantic comedy today that offers more than two famous and/or beautiful people exchanging snappy one-liners. They’re often more comedic than romantic, especially when they’re of the “high concept” variety. On the surface, 27 Dresses appears to offer just that – a gimmicky title, beautiful faces, and the classic plight of the bridesmaid who is inevitably going to become a bride.

Happily, great chemistry among all the actors and a smart script contribute to a sweet and funny film. There are no wasted scenes, no time-fillers or touching montages or over-the-top gags to move the story from point A to point B. It’s a tight script by Devil Wears Prada screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna; every line has purpose and all the jokes are funny.

27 Dresses is a comedy from start to finish, but most of the humor stems from the couple’s interactions, which in turn generates lots of lovely romance. As funny as the film is, it’s often touching as well, which can be attributed to the script’s honesty. It’s the story of a woman written by a woman and – rarer still – directed by a woman.

Women in Film

While Nancy Meyers (What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday) and Nora Ephron (whom I include because of Sleepless in Seattle, not You've Got Mail or Bewitched) have certainly distinguished themselves in the romantic comedy genre, female directors in the mainstream have primarily stuck to the comedy (Penny Marshall, Penelope Spheeris, Martha Coolidge, Amy Heckerling) and action (Kathryn Bigelow, Mimi Leder) genres, though the landscape continues to evolve, as evidenced by the recent successes of Julie Taymor and Sofia Coppola.

DVD Rentability: High

With 27 Dresses, Katherine Heigl perfects the role of uptight neurotic who loosens up with a few drinks in her. She can pull off the wit of Katherine Hepburn with the grace of Audrey Hepburn and the slapstick of Lucille Ball, which endears her to women rather than alienating them with her beauty.

James Marsden matches Heigl in looks, charm, and goofiness, finally getting the girl in one of his movies. Judy Greer shines as the outrageous party girl who plays both angel and devil on her best friend’s shoulder, sensitive and supporting or brutally honest, whichever the situation dictates.

Ed Burns is mildly charming in a bland sort of way (as usual) as the clueless object of Heigl’s affections and Malin Akerman is adequate as the flaky, spoiled little sister (though whether she’s adequate enough to pull off Silk Spectre in Watchmen remains to be seen). DVD features include four featurettes, three deleted scenes, and some trailers. Sadly, no commentary or gag reel.

“Love is patient, love is kind, love is slowly going out of your mind.”

With 27 Dresses Anne Fletcher has crafted a film that entertains on many levels. The story is rooted in strong relationships between sisters and friends and the idea that a woman doesn’t have to compromise her personality to find love and appreciation.

And those crazy 27 dresses of the title are not only a clever plot device to bring our happy couple closer together; they’re a silly, satisfying punch line that accents rather than bludgeons the overall sentiment of the film: marriage is a celebration of love and friendship, and the wedding is the icing on the cake.