Jane Nichols is always the bridesmaid, never the bride — literally. She’s been in 27 weddings and has a closet in her tiny New York apartment full of 27 wacky dresses to show for it.
“27 Dresses,” released Jan. 9, 2008, and directed by Anne Fletcher, is a romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl as Jane Nichols, a bridesmaid for hire who dreams of her perfect day standing in front of the altar wearing white.
The movie opens by showing a flashback to 1986, where 8-year-old Nichols helps her cousin fix her wedding dress and discovers her love of weddings. It then cuts to a scene where Nichols is in two weddings in one night, and she dashes back and forth across the city in a cab, changing in the backseat.
It is at the first wedding that she meets Kevin Doyle, played by James Marsden, a cynical wedding journalist who despises weddings and everything they stand for. After Nichols leaves her Filofax in a cab she and Doyle share, he pursues her for a feature piece on what it is like being a part of what he considers a commercialized and consumerist day.
Very quickly, Nichols’ love life becomes complicated, after her younger sister, Tess, and her boss, George — who Nichols is deeply in love with — get engaged. Nichols is asked to be the maid of honor, and she pushes down her secret feelings for the sake of her sister.
Through the trials and tribulations of gift registry, special-ordering flowers and venues, Nichols’ friendship with Doyle grows.
In an iconic scene, Nichols models her 27 bridesmaid dresses for Doyle, featuring styles of Southern belles, monochromatic yellows, underwater swimsuits, tulle and an ill-faded suit and tie.
“I don’t care if somebody wants me to wear a funny dress, it’s their day, not mine,” Nichols said to Doyle in the scene. “Someday, it’ll be my day, and all those people will be there for me.”
Through it all, Nichols is joined at the side by her idiosyncratic best friend, Casey, played by Judy Greer. Casey provides moments of comedic relief in a way similar to Samantha in “Sex and the City,” in that it is slightly raunchy but always poignant.
Close to the third-act conflict of the film, Nichols and Doyle begin to realize they have feelings for each other, complicated by the release of the article Doyle has been working on for the entirety of the film.
A film not known for surprises but rather its stereotypical, and quite predictable, rom-com pattern, “27 Dresses” is all about discovering self-worth in the mess of other people’s successes, while simultaneously learning what love is in the process. The film has a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes and is available to watch on Hulu and Disney+.
