27 Dresses

27 Dresses is rated PG-13: for language, some innuendo and sexuality.

Every bride needs a best friend like Jane (Katherine Heigl). Ask her to be the maid of honor and you can rest assured all the wedding details will be taken care of. Nothing, from napkin folds to hem lengths, goes unnoticed by this girl who shows up on wedding day with an arsenal of items to deal with any emergency. To prove her proficiency, Jane has a closet full of bridesmaid's dresses -- 27 to be exact.

But brides-to-be aren't the only ones to whom Jane lends a hand. At the office, she is the number one go-to-girl for her boss George (Edward Burns), even picking up his dry cleaning and bringing in breakfast. On the home front, she's watched out for her father (Brian Kerwin) and taken care of her little sister Tess (Malin Akerman) since their mom died. But putting other's wishes first comes at a cost.

After a whirlwind weekend of wedding responsibilities, Jane finally gets to spend time with her sister who is in town for the week. However when Tess announces she's about to marry the man Jane is secretly in love with, the older sibling starts making a pre-nuptial to-do list rather than speaking up. Finally, the wedding planner is forced to face the absurdness of her situation when a newspaper columnist (James Marsden) covering Tess's upcoming ceremony starts questioning Jane's sanity. Yet learning to say no proves to be more difficult than dealing with a bridezilla.

While the array of cast off dresses will be enough to make any former bridesmaid grimace, the film's content will leave some family members feeling uncomfortable as well. Upset by her sister's engagement, Jane finds herself stranded in the ditch with the annoying reporter. Yet despite her dislike for Kevin, the two of them down numerous drinks at a nearby bar and then lead the other patrons in a rousing sing-along. Later, they spend the night together in the backseat of the stranded car. Along with repeated profanities, Jane expresses her frustrations with a partially screened sexual expletive.

Following a predictable pattern, 27 Dresses is pinned together with plenty of the expected cliches. Still the film offers some unpredictable character development and engaging humor. But with so many of these wedding guests more interested in pairing up than party favors, this is one dress parents might want to leave on the rack.

Studio: Twentieth Century Fox.

Making sure the wedding goes off without a hitch is what Jane does best, even going so far as helping the bride in the bathroom. But while Jane is making sure everything’s okay, other wedding guests are getting drunk or looking for someone to go home with. Repeated sexual discussions, references to sexual activity, passionate kissing in a car and a brief lesbian comment are included in the script. Frequent profanities and a partially heard sexual expletive are also used along with a cheeky comparison to Jesus. A couple of slaps and a vengeful presentation are depicted.

Why is Jane motivated to take care of other people? What does she learn about being assertive?

How is Tess and Jane’s relationship affected by their situation? What qualities do they each admire about the other?

In Dan in Real Life, a widower finds himself falling in love with his brother’s girl friend at a family reunion. A young woman’s marriage plans go awry when she gets invited to My Best Friend’s Wedding. James Marsden plays a prince in search of his princess in Enchanted.

27 Dresses is outfitted for the home entertainment market in two formats:

The DVD trousseau includes bonus featurettes (The Wedding Party, You’ll Never Wear It Again, Jane’s World and The Running of the Brides) and deleted scenes. The movie is presented in full screen (1.33:1 ratio) and wide screen (2.35:1 ratio), with audio tracks in English (Dolby Surround 5.1) and French (Dolby Surround), along with English and Spanish subtitles.

Packed with the same accessories is the Blu-Ray Disc, which is authored in BD-Java with AVC (MPEG 4 compression) on a dual-layer 50 GB disc. Audio tracks are available in English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Master Audio and French Dolby Surround, with subtitles in Spanish, Cantonese, Korean, Mandarin and French.