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27 Dresses: A Chick Flick At Best |
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Written by Huang Yifang
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The marketing poster of the movie 27 Dresses, literally screams chick flick. There is the token good-hearted, beautiful girl smiling beatifically (Katherine Heigl), whose roles in her past movie and television credits (Knocked Up, Grey's Anatomy) lends credence to her "good-girl" image.
Then there is the screenwriter of the movie (Aline Brosh McKenna), who was the screenwriter for yet another chick flick, "Devil Wears Prada".
In the film literary world in which heavy-weight movies such as Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed have usurped their light-weight competitors to clinch prestigious film awards, chick flicks such as 27 Dresses have been relegated to a "mini" status.
This is blatantly obvious in the phrase that we use to categorize such movies, "chick flicks".
We are either implying that (1) the movies lack sufficient depth or breadth to warrant an adult status, hence the infant label of "chick" instead of the adult "chicken" or more notably, (2) the movies are purported to resonate better with females who favour more emotional and less intellectually-stimulating movies, in which case, we end up rooting the subordinated or "mini" status of such films, relative to their critically-acclaimed counterparts, in gender discrimination.
A movie review is hardly the platform for one to explicate an extended rhetoric on the underlying meanings behind the labels of movies because it effectively diverts attention from the movie that is being reviewed.
Hence, all that Hooked would mention in closing to the can of worms that we opened above is that, there is no denying the fact that one can derive great pleasure from watching a film that has been relegated to a "mini" status. Now, back to 27 Dresses.
Helmed by director Anne Fletcher (Step Up), 27 Dresses features Katherine Heigl who plays Jane - sweet and accommodating. Whether it's running errands for her boss, George (Edward Burns), whom she has a crush on or (you guessed it) being the bridesmaid for 27 of her friends' weddings.
Kevin Doyle (James Marsden) is a journalist for the Commitments page of the New York City Journal. He basically writes about wedding couples and their love stories (here's an idea for an extra section in The Straits Times). Essentially, Kevin interviews couples and attends weddings for a living.
On a particular night, Jane finds herself acting as a bridesmaid for 2 weddings and she ends up shuttling back and forth between them. Kevin attends one of these weddings, finds out what she is up to and is consequently intrigued by her. When Jane gets knocked unconscious while trying to catch the wedding bouquet, Kevin sends her home in a cab.
The drama really begins when Jane's sister Tess (Marlin Akerman) returns home. Tess is the total opposite of Jane - bratty and selfish. Jane invites Tess to her company's party where she meets George.
Sadly enough, George takes a shine to Tess and within a few weeks, they are engaged. However, Tess' relationship with George is based on her deliberate concealment of her true personality. Jane's dilemma begins when Tess (surprise, surprise) asks Jane to be her bridesmaid.
Firstly, Jane is upset that Tess is engaged to the boss whom she likes and even more enraged when she knows that their engagement is based on a blanket of lies. So here's the dilemma - does Jane want to be her usual submissive self and be ‘happy' for her younger sister or expose her sister's lies?
Admittedly, the plot could do with a few cuts in some unnecessary scenes. Surprisingly though, the highlight of the show was the development of the relationship between Jane and Kevin.
Although it was not that much different from the stereotypical relationships found in films from the same genre, the chemistry between James Marsden and Katherine Heigl was pretty good.
If you aren't careful, you may find yourself with a sappy smile plastered wide on your face by the time the movie reaches its climax. And frankly, you cannot possibly be any worse off from that! HOOKED
HOOKED's rating: 3.5/5
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Written by Guest on 2008-09-24 20:00:13
awesome
| Written by Guest on 2008-10-01 12:45:32
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