27 Dresses 2008

Critics score:
41 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Well, if you can figure out how this story ends, you've probably got better things to do than watch 27 Dresses. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: 27 Dresses is so chock full of romantic-comedy cliches, it almost plays like a parody. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: My favorite performer in the movie, Judy Greer, is a deadpan killah as Jane's co-worker. She and Heigl deserve fresher stuff. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Eventually the contrivances win out, but the cast keeps it all watchable. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Katherine Heigl carries 27 Dresses when all else fails, which it does with great regularity. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Made 10 years ago, it probably would have starred a vacationing cast member from Friends. Read more

Suzanne Condie Lambert, Arizona Republic: If 27 Dresses were part of a wedding reception, it wouldn't be the bouquet toss, but it wouldn't be the Chicken Dance, either. It's more like the cake: mass-produced, maybe a little too sweet but enjoyable all the same. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: There's a decent movie in here somewhere. But the director and screenwriter have made a ditsy single-chick movie with the alluring geometry of a screwball comedy. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The cliches, like the dresses, sashay in and out of this predictable if nicely fluffy chick-flick composite, which manages to crank out a few decent laughs when it isn't wasting time on a pair of deadly supporting characters. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The romantic comedy 27 Dresses will work best for people who have never seen a romantic comedy. If you have, you might find it amusing to tally up the steals -- I mean, homages. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Katherine Heigl is a movie star. Even in a fluffy romantic comedy like 27 Dresses, she lights up the screen. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's white-lace porn for girls of every age, and the way that it revels in that get-me-to-the-altar mood, to the point of making anyone who isn't getting married feel like a loser, is the picture's key selling point. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: Sorry, Sandra. Too bad, Meg. The mantle of movie cute queen has just been passed to Katherine Heigl, starring as the romantically challenged New Yorker of 27 Dresses. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Another insult written and directed by women who deserve to be strung up by bridal veils Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: 27 Dresses dutifully privileges its formulaic plot over its stick-figure characters, slapping a happy ending on a setup that, say, Happiness director Todd Solondz could have gone to town on. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Under Anne Fletcher's mechanistic direction, 27 Dresses ticks along as briskly and transparently as a clock with a see-through face. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Anyone watching this appealing actress march toward the inevitable will wonder why she's settling for so much less than she deserves. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Anyone who has seen a chick flick knows what is going to happen next, and next, and next... Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's not one for the ages, but this comedy about the 'perpetual bridesmaid' suggests a romantic marriage between star and audience that could last and last. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: No self-respecting screenwriter would put a Hugh Grant character through what Heigl's endures here. I don't blame McKenna: I blame a studio system that figures if it worked for Julia Roberts, it will work for Heigl. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: 27 Dresses is an illustration of what can result when the filmmakers possess a solid understanding of the romantic comedy formula and decide never to stray from it by one iota. Read more

Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon.com: The biggest disappointment of 27 Dresses is that it inhabits a Harlequin romance New York City, one remarkably short on homosexuals and divorce. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: All the plot elements that we're encouraged to care about in 27 Dresses resolve in a dud, and the only thing that feels good about the feel-good finish is that it means the movie's over. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Too bad they didn't accessorize it with more creativity. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times: 27 Dresses is one heck of a happy date movie. Smiling faces are guaranteed on all seen exiting when the credits finally do roll here. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Familiarity may be the central attraction of both weddings and romantic comedies, but the creators of 27 Dresses have taken a good thing too far. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Anyone who has the slightest doubt about where this movie is heading probably leads a full and rich life that doesn't include watching romantic comedies like My Best Friend's Wedding, which covered this same ground with a lot more verve and humour. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Time Out: Read more

Anna Smith, Time Out: Hops along merrily enough thanks to an engaging turn from Heigl, who's nailed the unusually-pretty-girl-next-door act while embracing physical and risque comedy. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Certainly Heigl fares better in less formulaic fare, such as Judd Apatow's irreverent Knocked Up, but she does raise the level of this chick flick from bland to mildly entertaining. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: Frothy, funny and formulaic, this pleasantly predictable romantic comedy may be viewed as another step forward for Katherine Heigl. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: A forgettable, formulaic comedy so predictable that seeing it and skipping it are the exact same thing. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A romantic comedy that -- despite her [Star Katherine Heigl] undeniable, apple-cheeked appeal -- sags like a day-old bouquet. Read more