Having become pregnant out of wedlock in Knocked Up, Katherine Heigl now stars in a much more traditional kind of date movie: a sunny, New York-based chick flick in which the heroine pines for one eligible hunk while being pursued by another. Whatever she does with either of these men, we know there’s no more chance of her character getting up the duff in the course of the film’s story than there would be if she were devoutly celibate. If she ever has a baby, this will happen only in the notional, unseen world beyond the nuptial vows and the closing credits.

Heigl plays Jane, an inveterate people-pleaser who adores weddings and has been a bridesmaid 27 times. When her dream man, George (Edward Burns), suddenly gets engaged to her sister, Tess (Malin Akerman), she chooses to suffer in silence while helping to plan the couple’s big day, even though she can see that her shallow sibling doesn’t really love the guy.

This imbroglio alone might have given the film’s writer, Aline Brosh McKenna (who scripted The Devil Wears Prada), enough material to work with, but she also introduces Kevin, a cynical journalist (played by James Marsden) who keeps trying to chat up Jane while baiting her with his professed dislike of weddings. In the romantic-comedy universe, of course, the fact that Jane initially finds Kevin annoying gives him an excellent chance of really being the one for her, but McKenna could have tried to create some uncertainty about the decision Jane must eventually make over where her heart truly lies. Instead, it’s thumpingly obvious from Jane and Kevin’s “meet cute” scene that they will be the ones heading for matrimony at the film’s end. Jane’s problems with George and Tess are merely the hoops through which the plot has to jump on its way to the inevitable finale.

I wouldn’t be complaining about this if the film, directed by Anne Fletcher, were fresh and original in other ways, but it most definitely isn’t. There are no surprises and no funny jokes, despite Jane being accompanied by the obligatory wisecracking best friend (played by Judy Greer). The saving grace is the likeable Heigl. She’s bright and snappy enough to keep Jane from seeming a hopeless wimp, but at the same time persuades us to accept the character’s weaknesses as credible parts of her personality. This performance makes 27 Dresses easy to watch but, even so, the film is strictly for viewers whose appetite for romantic comedies is as intense and indulgent as its heroine’s love of wedding ceremonies.

12A, 111 mins

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