“27 Dresses” – Susan Granger reviews

Psst! Wanna sneak off to an old-fashioned chick flick?

Jane (Katherine Heigl) is a serial bridesmaid. One night, she’s even double-booked, shuttling by taxi between one wedding in midtown Manhattan and another in Brooklyn. Without doubt, self-effacing Jane is the most efficient, accommodating friend in the world, always putting others’ needs before her own, particularly her clueless boss, George (Edward Burns), on whom she has a secret crush.

But Jane’s put to the test when her spoiled, self-indulgent, seductive sister, Tess (Malin Akerman), breezes into town and steals not only George’s affections but also their mother’s wedding gown. Skulking in the background is a cynical newspaper reporter (James Marsden) on the wedding beat. He loathes his job and figures that a story on Jane’s nuptial fixation would make a great front-page feature for his section, adorned with photos of her in all of the garish bridesmaids’ outfits that she has squashed in her closet.

Katherine Heigl successfully springs once again to the big screen from TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” having ventured before in “Knocked Up,” and Judy Greer’s terrific as her tough-talking best-friend. Curiously, in both of her recent big-screen outings Heigl has chosen to play a character whose demeanor totally changes when she gets drunk at a local bar.

So why is this romantic comedy old-fashioned? Because the underlying message is that, basically, a woman’s life is meaningless without marriage.

Nevertheless, screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna (“The Devil Wears Prada”) and choreographer-turned-director Anne Fletcher (“Step Up”) create a funny screwball farce, mocking the fashion police and brazenly “borrowing” from better wedding-themed movies. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “27 Dresses” is an amusing 7, a fluffy, frivolous indulgence for those of us who still enjoy the occasional wedding fantasy.