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27 Dresses
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (27th May 2008). |
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The Film
 Wasn't this movie called 'The Wedding Planner' a few years back? The movie follows career amateur wedding-planner Jane Nichols (Katherine Heigl, a long way from her 'Under Siege 2: Dark Territory' and 'Bride of Chucky' days), who can never say no to her friends, as she pines for her boss, George (Edward Burns), who starts seeing Jane's sister Tess (Malin Akerman), who has just moved back to New York. At the same time, Kevin Doyle (James Marsden), a romance columnist finds out about Jane's selflessness and decides to write a piece about her. These four characters' lives intersect in a generally sweet and fluffy way. What really surprised me was the movie sidestepped a lot of the silliness that bugs me about many romantic comedies. The formula that basically all romantic comedies follow isn't altered much in this movie, but the plot points are solid. For example, romantic comedies have this general plot: boy meets girl (or vice-versa), they fall in love, one of them does something and they break up, and in the end they find true love with each other. The reason for breaking up is usually very, very silly ('Runaway Bride' comes to mind). This time, everything is relatively solid and made me look at the movie more closely. The events up to that point are also pretty enjoyable, though somewhat by-the-book. The plot is pretty predictable, so the interest of the movie lies in the main character and how she deals with the fact that her true love seems to have been taken by her sister, and the planning of their impending wedding that fell squarely, naturally, on her shoulders. Her conversations and situations with Kevin are sweet and occasionally funny, making for an enjoyable time. Now, this is not Pulitzer material and not as biting or satical as writer Anne Brosh McKenna's previous movie, 'The Devil Wears Prada', but it's pretty enjoyable overall. There's some sweetness in this movie that doesn't feel overly forced, yet still nice enough to not be too sugury. Katherine Heigl pulls off her Jane well enough, but for some reason I especially liked James Marsden. His role is very, very easy, but he has fun with what he's given and, for me, he's memorable even through this movie. Malin Akerman also has a memorable role, but her character is very one-note, and this is not the best idea for this kind of character. The big dramatic reveal by Jane at the end is nothing special and I never felt sorry for anybody. There are no special moments in this movie and the message is pretty clear, but the movie is well-handled. Somewhat like 'Magic Kitchen', the movie needs the right tone to succeed. With 'Magic Kitchen', the cosmopolitan feel of the movie saved it, and with '27 Dresses', the light, airy feel gives its intentions away without pretention or over-ambition. It's a simple movie and it just wants to entertain.
Video
2.35:1 widescreen, using the AVC/MPEG-4 codec. The picture is very strong throughout the movie. Colours are sharp, distinct and accurate. There's never any banding or noise, but this should never be a problem given the movie is usually bright, with a colourful palette. The level of detail is also very nice, with all the pleats and folds of all those gaudy dresses being clean and distinct. Skin tones are also very nice with the correct reddish hue. Print defects are likewise non-existent. verall, this is a great picture.
Audio
This Fox disc' main audio track is a very underwhelming English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. A French Dolby Digital 5.1 track is also available. The lossless qualities of the soundtrack never really show themselves. Most of the track comes from the front speakers, with surrounds rarely coming in to be heard. In fact, I don' remember the rear speakers ever being used. That' not to say they weren' used, it' just to say that if they were, their use was very, very subtle. In any case, what’s heard is very clear with a nice range. Dialogue is clear and crisp with very nice volume levels. The music and other sound elements are mixed in very nicely, and nothing interferes with anything else. what's heard is nice, but had this disc only contained a Dolby Digital track, I doubt it would have changed much of anyhting with regards to sound. English, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean and Mandarin subtitles are provided.
Extras
A few featurettes and a few deleted scenes are all to be found here. First, The Wedding Party (14:31) screams EPK in its first 20 seconds, and that's what it delivers. The actors first talk about their characters, then crew members talk about bridesmaids, the director, the basic plot and the final weddings in the movie. It's nothing special, unless by special I mean 'self-congratulatory', in which case it is special. I don't mean that. There isn't too much information, and probably can be skipped. You'll Never Wear That Again (6:46) is next and the costume designer talks about the dresses, as does the director. The both mention that they wanted to find the most horrible dresses for the movie. Mrs. Heigl also talks about the various dresses she wore. Jane's World (4:38) is about shooting Rhode Island for New York and about the various weddings. The production designer talks about the inspiration he had with the various styles. This is probably the most interesting featurette. The final featurette is one called The Running of the Brides (5:05) and in it, you see an annual sale a particular store has for wedding dresses. Some ridiculous discounts are offered. You hear various brides-to-be talk about why they're there, then you see all the people running to racks and trying on dresses. It gets pretty crazy. Three Deleted Scenes follow. 'Jane Hails a Cab' (0:27) and 'Tess' Bridesmaid Dresses' (1:15) are pretty forgettable, but 'The Rescue of Gatsby' (2:16) is pretty funny. It just adds to Tess's character. It was probably cut due to length but it's worth watching.
Overall
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