27 Dresses

Genre: Romantic Comedy
By 20th Century Fox
Directed by: Anne Fletcher
Runtime: 107 minutes
Starring Katherine Heigl (Jane), James Marsden (Kevin), Ed Burns (George), Malin Akerman (Tess), Judy Greer (Casey)


A Predictable Romantic Comedy with All the Right Ingredients
Despite not expecting too much out of romantic comedies, I still enjoy watching them. For the simple story line of boy meets girl, boy and girl go through a series of obstacles before they get together. I enjoy watching the female lead’s trials and errors and going through the roller-coaster ride with her, admiring her never-say-die attitude and eventually getting the man of her dreams. And of course, the best part about romantic comedies is “And they lived happily, ever after…” Awww… I certainly want to be in a rom-com myself!

27 Dresses, as expected and forewarned, is a romantic comedy with the right ingredients without veering away from its predicted plotline which is nonetheless watchable. Everytime I watch a rom-com, I do not go in with high expectations, yet at the back of my mind, I do wish that some day, someone will discover the potential of making a really good movie out of the rom-com genre.

Well I did hear the previous rom-com by Katherine Heigl “Knocked-up” was tops, making it to the top 15 list of movies of the year. Having missed it in movies, I definitely don’t want to miss a fantastic ‘happily ever after” story! Hee, that’s the eternal optimistic in me talking again! Yes yes, I do know that 27 Dresses is just another rom-com with a passable storyline and an extremely predictable ending. But I still want to watch it alright? Anyway, predictability is why people want to watch it anyway.

I do know of quite a number of people who only want to watch shows which they have happy endings. The world has enough sad stories already, why make yourself unhappy especially when you have to pay?

It was an enjoyable movie, although the dresses were really hideous, most of them anyway. The Devil Wears Prada had me hankering after every single outfit the protagonist wore and 27 Dresses reminded me not to follow the footsteps of the lead who could only become the bridesmaid and wear those hideous clothes the bride requested, even though she wanted to be THE bride so desperately.

The chemistry between Katherine and James Marsden seems so comfortable. A beautiful lady and a handsome man, ah how convenient. It really gives mortals like us a lot of room to fantasize and hope against hope that our other half will be good looking and we will also miraculously become so beautiful one day. But then again, who doesn’t succumb to such thoughts once in a while?

Anyway, ugly the dresses may be, 27 Dresses not having a spectacular climax was still rather enjoyable. Well, blame the society for feeding kids with ‘happily ever after’ tales during our childhood. I grew up believing that I will either be Cinderella (when I was the only one helping my mum with household chores while my ‘evil’ elder sis did not lift a finger) or Snow White (whenever I ate a red apple, I will imagine myself lying down and rescued by a terribly handsome stranger who will kiss me to life and carry me to blissfulness on a white horse!).

In fact, when I was young and watching the programmes on TV, there was this particular female lead who was exceptionally pretty with her flowy long hair and flowy long dresses. She was gentle and much sought after by the male leads (can’t remember handsome or not). And yes, u got it. I did not only want to be like her. I really thought I will grow up like her! I thought, in my naivete, that everyone will grow up beautiful just like the leads on TV!

Perhaps my desire to watch all the rom-coms came about due to my childhood fantasies that the world is beautiful and the people around are equally beautiful! So if rom-coms can give us a couple of hours of happy fantasies, why not indulge in them?