ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

27 DRESSES is never going to win any prizes for originality. It has the kind of plot where you can guess the happy ending within the first ten minutes. The tale is familiar, the handling is unexceptional but what it lacks in inventiveness it makes up for in charm.

It also has a very likable leading lady in Katherine Heigl who could be next in line to assume the mantle of America’s sweetheart that once belonged to Reese Witherspoon and Meg Ryan.

Heigl is the star of Grey’s Anatomy on television and last year’s monster movie hit Knocked Up. She has a freshness and old-fashioned elegance that allow her to stand out from the crowd. In 27 Dresses, she plays Jane, a kind-hearted, self-effacing soul who is always the bridesmaid and never the bride.

She has been a bridesmaid twenty-seven times and is the one who saves the day, solves the problems and ensures that her friends have the happiest moments of their lives. If only someone would propose to her, ideally boss George (Edward Burns) who considers her indispensable but never gives her a romantic thought.

Matters are made worse when her sister Tess (Malin Akerman) turns up and poor Jane is soon asked to plan the selfish hussy’s happy day with George as the groom.

27 Dresses has the perky, wholesome feel of a Doris Day film from the 1960s. The New York settings are sunny and appealing, the frocks are eye-catching, nothing is too complicated and nothing is very subtle.

When James Marsden’s cynical journalist Kevin rolls up to report on Jane’s epic service as a bridesmaid you can almost hear the wedding bells ringing. A modest slice of upbeat escapism, 27 Dresses is the kind of lightweight Saturday night movie that is painless to digest and just as easy to forget.

Limited Nationwide release

Director: Anne Fletcher
Stars: Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Malin Akerman, Edward Burns, Judy Greer
Screenwriter: Aline Brosh McKenna
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 107 mins
Country: USA
Year: 2008