27 Dresses

3 STARS...Cute Premise, Should Have Been Better


My mid-week (usually Monday) movie friend, Liz, rates movies on a scale of A through F with Moonstruck as an A, Sliding Doors as a B and 27 Dresses as a C. I need to ask her what D and F are?

Jane, our heroine- played by Kathryn Heigl, is the martyr girl who does everything for everyone but herself. At the age of 9, after her mother's death, she is at a cousin's wedding when she gets her first rush of well-being from helping out the bride. Taking care of her younger sister and being a personal assistant to the boss she is in love with-played by Ed Burns, are just symptomatic of her "care-for-others" mentality. When her pretty jet-setting sister comes home and tricks the good guy boss (who Jane has been pining after) into a marriage proposal, Jane must finally learn to say "No."

In the midst of Jane learning to stand up for herself, she meets THE GUY-the male lead/love interest (whose articles in the Sunday Commitments section of the newspaper which she has been clipping and keeping...presumably under her pillow at night.) Turns out that not only does she have to suffer through the pain of her sister with her boss/THE CRUSH...she has to suffer through the discovery of her THE GUY's cynicism and career ambition when she was looking at him as a hero of romance.

Unfortunately, after spending a night drinking together, she determines that she is kind of okay and maybe wants THE GUY...well she does sleep with him. There is no chemistry. BUT, he is just using her to write a story about a crazy bridesmaid with 27 dresses for his Commitments Column, so she very quickly meanspirited and trashes her sister's engagement to THE CRUSH and hates THE GUY as a bitter, never-married bridesmaid.

So, in the end she makes up for all of ther horrible actions by making an ass of herself at a stranger's wedding to tell THE GUY she is sorry and wants him back.

The bright shining star of this movie is Jane's slutty, lush best-friend who has the best lines of the movie. The actress...in another wedding movie (The Wedding Planner, with J-Lo) is a meek assistant to a wedding planner. Here she shines as the rambunctious best friend.

Cloverfield

Holy moly. First of all...take some Dramamine or Bonine or something before you go.

Review: Uhtred in London

Okay, so this is my first Harper Collins First Look book review.

This installment of the Saxon Tales continues the history of Uhtred, as he recounts his own tale as Lord of Bebbanburg, oath-sworn to King Alfred of Wessex. Bernard Cornwell may be taking some license with murky times but he brings them to life by showing them through his hero's eyes. Uhtred's journey and his position of influence allows us to see the politics, religion and unforgiving human condition of his world.

I really enjoyed this book. Mr. Cornwell has a way of showing Uhtred as ambitious, a barbaric fighter, unforgiving master and close-minded brute, all while getting the reader to embrace him as a loving husband, father and friend, clever and industrious, a budding statesman and a man who is loyal and fair in his own way. Those around him come to life as likeable or despicable characters depending on Uhtred's judgment of their loyalties and integrity. This was my first book of Cornwell's that I've read though I enjoyed the Sharpe BBC television series immensely. I liked it enough that I know I will go back and read the rest of them and maybe even look into some his other series.