27 Dresses

An incurable Miss Fix-It and perennial bridesmaid (Katherine Heigl) finds her dedication tested when her kid sister (Malin Akerman) becomes engaged to the man she herself has been pining for (Edward Burns). Aline Brosh McKenna’s script borrows promiscuously from other movies, with contrivances that were old hat before her parents (and director Anne Fletcher’s) were born. But Heigl is the movie’s secret weapon—its only weapon, really; it would be no great shakes without her. She’s a true star, suggesting some of the great comic actresses of the past (Diane Keaton, Irene Dunne, Claudette Colbert) while being completely original. She’s a walking bundle of paradoxes: quite ordinary-looking and stunningly beautiful, level-headed and madcap—not alternately, mind you, but somehow all at the same time.