by Jay Bamber

Created on: July 10, 2009   Last Updated: July 13, 2009

Jane loves weddings, in fact she loves them so much that she has been a bridesmaid in twenty seven of them! She has the planning and execution down to a perfect art yet has failed to walk down the aisle herself, because she is waiting for her boss George, who is unknowingly the love of her life, to finally realise that she is the one for him. But when her super-model sister whirls into town and sweeps George of his feet Jane is faced with the daunting prospect of having to organise the rushed wedding! But then Jane meets Kevin, a cynical and unromantic journalist with hopes of turning her heart-ache into his ticket to big time editor, and her life takes a turn which she could have never anticipated.......

27 Dresses is the artistic embodiment of why cliched doesn't have to mean bad; infarct, cliched can be enjoyable and funny and big hearted with great performances and witty dialogue. If cliched is accompanied by smarts, as it so rarely is in the romantic comedy genre, then the predictability of it all can add to the viewer's enjoyment, cliche creates a sense of safety and comfort and when mixed in with elements such as good plotting they make for a successful romantic movie experience. 27 Dresses is fun, heart warming, silly, serious and, eventually, pretty darn enjoyable. It is held up by a solid screenplay, charming leads, great visuals and an exciting contemporary soundtrack; here all the elements fit together to hold it above others in the genre making for a highly enjoyable night in.

One of the most refreshing things about 27 dresses is the genuinely clever and moving screenplay which sees Aline McKenna create characters who are interesting, funny and realistic. Characters who actually learn things and become different people; they learn to become a little bit braver, or they learn that their happy ending might not be about finding somebody else, or that living for someone else stops you from living your own life, and they all seem to evolve in very plausible and interesting ways. McKenna writes genuinely witty lines of dialogue that help the whole production sparkle and does a great job of making the central relationship involving and sweet. She instills a little bit of acid into the proceedings to stop the film drowning in sugar and writes with a sort of elegance which bolsters it above the slightly ridiculous premise. The script takes the film into some slightly unexpected places and adopts a sort of dog-eared charm which serves it well, McKenna

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