27 Dresses

I made Aaron watch this Katharine Heigl movie with me the other night, and we both enjoyed it. So there!

It was better than I thought it would be, mostly because James Marsden is really hot.
Really. Hot.

And, Katherine Heigl is excellent. Her character is very much like her role in Knocked Up (which also was better than I had anticipated, although it has much more swearing and naughty references), where at least if she has to be a gorgeous, statuesque blond, she doesn't rub it in by getting herself all gussied up. She plays a great "straight woman", but still allows herself to be goofy. Like, for instance, running and leaping off of a dock onto a yacht getting ready to cruise. Yes, she makes it, but it takes a minute to get her balance. And immediately after her first step she falls. That is totally something I would do, minus the leaping.

The characters actually have some depth and development - not many are static, which is soo nice. I really hate movies where nobody learns anything and it's all just watching attractive people meet up. (Ahem, Kate Hudson & Matthew McConaughey)

Caution! Spoiler ahead!

Towards the end of the movie, just as she's given up on her crush on her boss, she finally gets the nerve to quit. Of course the boss gives her a big kiss, and I right away said, "Of course now she's going to have to decide between the guy who actually knows her and the guy she's been after forever." But NO! They decide together, right there, that there isn't any chemistry between them. (and isn't that the truth? Those silly crushes we build up in our heads so often end up not being anything worth remembering...) So she goes on to pursue her true love.

And this movie ends in my favorite way for a rom-com - with a wedding. Yay!

Ed.: After rewatching, I felt I must list a couple of things that annoy me in this movie.

1. The end credits are set up as the "Commitments" section article about the wedding. They say that the bride had 27 bridesmaids, which is wrong. She had 29 - the 27, plus her sister and friend Casey in "real" dresses.

2. There is an ad in the section for the 27 dresses, saying they'd only been worn once. This is also wrong. They'd been worn twice, since Jane wore them in the original wedding once, and then those 27 brides wore them at Jane's wedding. Unless, of course, they all had one of their own bridesmaids' dresses for themselves.

3. Only in the deleted scenes do we get to see the bridesmaids dress Tess had picked out...complete with a big 'ol butt bow. I SO WISH this would have made it into the final cut, but I think the producers thought it unlikely that would believe Tess when she said, "They're so chic! All the rage in Milan!" Or maybe the Italians got wind and threatened a lawsuit.