STUDIO: 20th Century Fox
RELEASE DATE: April 29, 2008
STARRING: Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Judy Greer, Malin Akerman, and Edward Burns
WRITTEN BY: Aline Brosh McKenna
DIRECTED BY: Anne Fletcher
FEATURES: Deleted Scenes
The Wedding Party Featurette
You'll Never Wear That Again Featurette
Jane's World Featurette
The Running of the Brides Featurette

When 27 Dresses screened early this year, it was clear that the movie didn't live up to expectations created by Knocked Up that Katherine Heigl could be "the next Meg Ryan" or even "the new Jennifer Aniston". As I wrote back in January, the blame for the failure of 27 Dresses doesn't fall at the feet of its gorgeous star, but it's still going to be hard to shake off a career decision this misguided. I wrote then, "Writer Aline Brosh McKenna committed one crucial error before cameras even rolled on 27 Dresses - she took her project far too seriously. 27 Dresses is shockingly not very funny. In fact, after that first sequence and another "Isn't Katherine cute?" bit where Jane tries on all 27 dresses she wore to different weddings, 27 Dresses places way too much effort on the drama. Melodramatic speeches about love, usually unrequited, and sisterhood fill almost the entire final half of 27 Dresses. A film like this, that works with so many romantic comedy cliches, could only possibly work if it keeps a smile on your face, and McKenna and director Anne Fletcher completely forgot the comedy half of their genre."

Watching the film again on DVD, the flaws in this romantic comedy design are even more glaring and ridiculous. 27 Dresses is a romantic comedy that's not funny and only marginally romantic. Everyone involved should send 'thank you' notes to James Marsden and Heigl, who are just charming enough to occasionally make the romance work and save the film from being used as a torture device. But seeing 27 Dresses a second time, the non-Judy Greer supporting cast is unbelievably awful (and even the lovely Greer is wasted). We know Malin Akerman's character is supposed to be the annoying sister, but Akerman plays over-the-top while everyone else in the movie is playing it straight. It's like she thinks she's playing the same character she did in the even-worse The Heartbreak Kid. (We might have already seen her one-note range.) And then there's Edward Burns, an actor who only gets more boring with every passing year and one who hasn't played a character well in a decade. In fact, one of the most fatal flaws of 27 Dresses is that our adorable lead has pined for Burns' character for years, which is impossible to fathom, making her less likable. With summer movies about to blow our minds, 27 Dresses looks even rattier on DVD than it did in theaters.

The DVD for 27 Dresses presumes that most people will treat the title as a rental, not a purchase, and gives it the appropriate package for a one-time only viewing. The video and audio don't distract from the proceedings but aren't exactly great either. And the deleted scenes and featurettes are pretty much all predictable fluff. "You'll Never Wear That Again" is the most interesting, offering some insight into a costume designer assigned with the unusual task of finding awful dresses. Like the movie they accompany, the special features are purely by-the-numbers. On DVD, even more than in the theaters, it's clear that Katherine Heigl and even James Marsden deserved an original design, but they got an outfit that you won't want to wear again.