1. GOOD: Katherine Heigl (Jane) is very pretty. Eye-candy. Kinda looks like Ashley Judd in some of the scenes. But...2. BAD: ...she is too pretty to be believable. I mean, nobody can be that hot and charming and still be unattached. And no one in the film seems to have noticed that.
3. GOOD: Some of the scenes are genuinely funny (e.g., when Jane's bestfriend Casey--Judy Greer--slaps her when she looks longingly at George--Edward Burns--and whispers *I love you, too.*). But...
4. BAD: ...most just plain suck. The comedic timing is terrible. It's like the characters just give out punchlines whenever they feel like it. (E.g., when the bartender tells Jane and Kevin/Malcolm--James Marsden--they are good like the guys on CSI because they have figured out that the phone is not working. What the...?! Smart-alecks are not funny. As in, never.)
5. GOOD: It's a satyre on the whole getting-married-thing some people are so obssessed about. In the same vein as My Bestfriend's Wedding (good), Runaway Bride (not so good), and our very own Got To Believe (some people are saying it's good; I haven't seen it yet). But...
6. BAD: ...it's just one of those movies about wedding. There's absolutely nothing new in the story, in the treatment, and the characters.
7. GOOD: It's not just about weddings. But...
8. BAD: ...it's about a lot of other things at the same time. Is it about being a perennial bridesmaid and never the bride? Or, is it about opening one's eyes and discovering that the person meant for you is standing right beside you all along? Or, about finding the courage to stand up for oneself and saying *no* sometimes? Or, a story about sisters? It can't be all. The writer should've picked just one, and made the rest subplots.
9. GOOD: Most of the characters change in the end. But...
10. BAD: ...the character changes are fake. (E.g., during the confrontation between sisters Jane and Tess--Malin Ackerman. Tess throws things at Jane, all the while accusing her of being jealous of her all along. Then, without proper segue, they sit together on the counter and Tess tells Jane that she shouldn't be taking care of her because she's a big girl already. What?! She ruined her wedding, and now she's telling her to stop taking care of her because she's grown?!)
11. GOOD: The protagonist finally learns to stand up for herself. But...
12. BAD: ...how she does it is unforgivable. Spilling the beans on her younger sister via the (usually tacky) powerpoint tribute, in front of everyone (family, friends and extras) is uncalled for. She could've talked to George in private, instead. Fine...
13. GOOD: ...it's more dramatic that way. Well, at least that's the obvious intention. To make it more dramatic. But...
14. BAD: ...it failed. There is no build up, and no follow up. No tension, ergo, no drama. We should've seen Jane pressuring Tess to tell George the truth, etc. The point is that the audience should feel that there's no better time and no better way than this to tell George the truth about Tess.
15. GOOD: Casey pointed it out to Jane--that she's venting out her 20 years of repressed anger, or something. But...
16. BAD: ...she still introduces Pedro whom she knows very well will only spill more beans. Is she the conscience or an accomplice?
17. GOOD: All protagonists have to go through dark times to give way to character change. But...
18. BAD: ...they must empathetic. I am rooting more for Tess (the *villainess* and the manifestation of conflict) than for Jane (the protagonist). I actually think Jane is a bitch (not in a good way) and Tess is the victim. And that is very dangerous. It creates dissonance. The viewers don't know with whom to empathize.
19. GOOD: This is a romantic-comedy. And I love romantic-comedies: When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, Don't Give up on Us, etc. But...
20. BAD: ...wait, this is romantic-comedy, right? Actually, I'm confused. It looks like it's romantic-comedy, but somehow it lacks the key elements of a romantic-comedy. I don't root for the protagonist, I honestly don't give a damn whether the protagonist and her object-of-desire end up together or not, and the whole film is hardly, well, romantic.
21. GOOD: The storytelling is not usual, not formula. But...
22. BAD: ...I don't think it's intentional. Somehow, I have the feeling that the absence of *formula* is actually brought about by the writer's and the director's lack of awareness of what makes a good romantic-comedy: That whether the protagonist knows about it or not, the audience must know whom he/she is destined for. And they must hate him/her for not knowing it, but all the while anticipating his/her realization. The audience must wait for the first real kiss between the protagonist and his/her object-of-desire.
23. GOOD: The characters are not clearcut. They're neither good or bad. But...
24. BAD: ...it makes them lukewarm. Until the end of the movie, we don't know how they really feel towards anything. Does Jane hate or love Tess? George and Tess seem to have easily moved on from the foiled dinner rehearsal, really? Just like that? Does Kevin/Malcolm really love Jane? When does he realize this? And Jane--after discovering that Kevin/Malcolm actually cries at weddings, too--falls immediately in love with him? Come on.
25: GOOD: The protagonist is not a scheming bitch. But...
26. BAD: ...this is actually detrimental to the story. She says she wants something, but she doesn't act on it. Ergo, she's just whining. Actually, even in real life, when someone says he/she wants something but doesn't do anything to get it, that person mustn't be trusted. Anyway, I can't emphasize it enought, passive protagonists are not worth watching.
27. Verdict: 27 Dresses = Bad. In a scale of 1 to 50 (1 being the lowest, and 50 the highest) I'll give it a, well, 27. I'm not sure I'd want to watch it again.
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