20th Century Fox and Spyglass Entertainment present a PG-13 romantic comedy with a running time over 100 minutes directed by Anne Fletcher and starring Katherine Heigl (Jane), Judy Greer (Casey), James Marsden (Kevin), Edward Burns (George), Brian Kerwin (Hal), Malin Akerman (Tess), David Castro (Pedro) with Charli Barcena (Young Tess), Peyton List (Young Jane), Michael Ziegfeld (Taxi Driver Khaleel), Maulik Pancholy (Trent), Krysten Ritter (Gina) and Melora Hardin (Maureen).
A young girl at the age of eight named Jane while attending a wedding dreams of one day having a wedding of her own. Flash forward to many years later as the saying goes, "always a bridesmaid, never a bride". Jane, happens to be the ultimate bridesmaid to a total of 27 times, having the dresses in her closet at home to prove it. A matter of fact in one night she was a bridesmaid at two different weddings across town from each other in New York City. She paid a cab driver three hundred dollars for the night not to check her out in the rearview mirror as she changed in the back seat from one dress to another as she drove back and forth several times in the night. For each glance he took she would deduct twenty dollars from the total. In the end, how much money do you think he made?
At one of the weddings during a fall for the bouquet she meets up with Kevin, who is there doing a story for the New York Journal. Kevin, also known in the print world as Malcolm, happens to be the commitment writer for the wedding section of the paper. You'd think a perfect opportunity for a relationship between the two since Jane loves weddings and he write about them. Not really since he has an alias in which she is not aware of, also due to the fact that she happens to be in love with her boss George, who owns the company, Urban Everest.
But not long into the story Jane's sister, Tess, otherwise later known as "Bridezilla" comes to town for a visit. Blonde, beautiful, funny and well pretty much the typical cliché by the bombshell standard. This is when the love triangle begins between Jane who loves George but once he lays eyes on Tess falls in love with her over false pretenses. In the long run of things, Jane, ends up as the wedding planner of two sides of the triangle, of course against her better judgment. Then again Jane has always been known as the "yes" girl. That is until Kevin enters her world throwing a wrench into her life, which ultimately ends up being the tool to fix all her problems. Alcohol, sex and "Benny and the Jets", what could possibly be a better formula for an ice breaker or better yet one wet, steamy night?
Although before Kevin fixes the problems in Jane's life he did cause a bit of a breakdown when he started to write a story specifically about her, "Always, always, always a bridesmaid" complete with pictures of her in each of the gowns. Jane, previously unknown to her knowledge becomes a bit of a local celebrity from the article causing even more turmoil in this triangular fiasco now turned into a square. For those of you that failed geometry three sides now becomes four!
Not all is comfortable on the wedding front for Tess. Jane has had enough and dug deep to proclaim to her younger sister, "today your one bitch who broke my heart and cut up my mothers wedding dress". Sometimes unleashing twenty years of repressed feelings in public is the best therapy to help a person move forward on the journey through life. In the end, the wrinkles come out in the wash bringing a climatic moment that is everything and more right down to the twenty eighth dress.
Even though this film is skewed towards women let alone the title in itself, it is cleverly written to entertain everyone. Heigl, once again has won over the audience with her acting capabilities and overall charm on the big screen. Greer, a great side kick to Heigl's character adds a sense of over the edge humor and animosity to the plot. Akerman, not a far stretch from her last film, "The Heartbreak Kid" was enjoyable as the sinister sister. Marsden, becoming a bankable actor was a bit on the whimsical side but a joy to watch opposite the truly main leading lady, Heigl. As for Burns, he's like a lion in the safari. You know he's there but you don't always see him but when you do he adds a sense of clever pride to his role in the story. Well written, directed and acted with a wonderful score this film with one of America's newest sweethearts to romantic comedy is sure to make it all the way down the aisle to proclaim "I do" to a box office success.
Reporting for Talkin' Pets, I'm Jon Patch.