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Review: 27 Dresses (12A)****
Smarter than the average rom-com, 27 Dresses presents a further step up for Katherine Heigl after her breakthrough performance in Knocked Up.
In this one, she's Jane Nichols, a professional bridesmaid with the hots for her charming boss (Edward Burns). When he falls for her blonde bimbo sister – great legs, big smile, few brains – Jane finds herself adrift in a sea of ghastly dresses for other brides' weddings.
But Jane does have one admirer – a wedding report writer for the city rag who, after seeing her as a perfect feature subject, begins to fall headlong in love.
Made by women for women – and there's absolutely nothing wrong in that – this is a hopelessly cheesy chick-flick that hits every button and succeeds in being charming, upbeat and fun.
Jane is a damaged girl who lives forever in the shadow of her glamorous sis. Throw in some long suppressed sibling rivalry, a bittersweet, unrequited love affair and simmering frustration at being left on the shelf and Jane is a mini volcano about to erupt. She just doesn't know it yet. 27 Dresses is a formula movie but one that gets top marks. It presents nothing that hasn't been seen before but is an engaging and agreeable little souffl that rises healthily on the back of two excellent performances.
Heigl and co-star James Marsden, as frustrated scribbler Kevin Doyle, are two good-looking, healthy New Yorkers. Thus they are destined to be together. Aline Brosh McKenna's script does the dance through boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl but it never loses its fizz and energy. It offers a different take on the age-old mnage a trois and presents hope, romance and humour in equal doses.
Girls will be cheering for the heroine in this. She's the kind of girl that doesn't really exist – neither does her darkly handsome beau – but the fairytale element at least allows audiences to lap up the fantasy. Choreographer-turned-director Anne Fletcher has hit the jackpot with this elegant and bitingly effective romantic comedy. Heigl proves she has the chops to become a bonafide leading lady and Marsden may find himself occupying the space once dominated by the likes of Brad Pitt and George Clooney.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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