‘27 Dresses’ a bit too sweet

“Always, always, always a bridesmaid,” reads the headline of a New York Journal society column about a plain Jane (the flawlessly pretty Katherine Heigl) and her obsession with organizing weddings for her friends. She has been a bridesmaid at 26 separate weddings, and as her stuffed closet attests, it hasn’t always been pretty. Taking into account both the fluorescent Gone With the Wind frock and parasol she had to don for a certain themed wedding and the one remaining girlfriend Jane still hangs out with (the defiantly single Casey, played by a tired-looking Judy Greer), you might be led to believe that each of the new brides abandoned Jane, or vice versa, once her services were rendered.

But then you wouldn’t believe in the essential likeability of Katherine Heigl. Jane is, from all the evidence, a deeply annoying character—controlling, superficial, jealous, vindictive—but Heigl is grounded. She makes even deeply stupid scenes like a mid-yoga-class argument and a mid-cab-ride striptease seem tolerable. Even so, 27 Dresses is so sugary it made my jaw ache. Or maybe I was just clenching my teeth.

Jane’s awful sister Tess (Malin Akerman) comes to New York and promptly steals the love of Jane’s life—who happens to be Jane’s boss, the ecologically concerned George (Edward Burns). There is no reason for ecological concern to enter into this movie, but it is there nonetheless, presumably to demonstrate that Tess (who likes CHILI DOGS and RIBS) and George (who prefers TOFU) are temperamentally unsuited to each other. Meanwhile, a pesky society reporter named Kevin (James Marsden) tries to get a date with Jane. Jane believes Kevin to be “creepy” and “cynical” and “dark,” but this is blatantly untrue. When he smiles, which he does constantly, his beatific grin takes up half his face. Don’t worry, soon they will make drunken karaoke together and then the movie will be almost over.

27 DRESSES DIR. ANNE FLETCHER | RATED PG-13 | AT THEATERS EVERYWHERE

Tags: 27 dresses, Film, katherine heigl