Oh boy! Another cliched by-the-numbers American romantic comedy, just what I was hoping for! Why is it that nearly every recent American romantic comedy forces not only the same plot on us, but the same reliance on a silly quirk to further the plot. Here we have the woman who has been a bridesmaid 27 times but never a bride (just the next in the line of silly quirks used by the genre), I wonder if she'll fall in love, have a fallout with that love and, eventually, end up getting married?!? There's even a silly karaoke-type scene where our leads sing Elton John at a bar that feels ripped straight from - I'm about to lose man-points here - My Best Friend's Wedding. Katherine Heigl is tolerable enough I guess, but consider me the minority as I just don't quite get the appeal with her. She was fine but unspectacular in Knocked Up and is certainly less fine here (though in fairness it's worse material). Edward Burns, who was also terrible in One Missed Call, seems thankful someone paid him to put in this bored performance. Malin Akerman, who came off unredeemingly and painfully annoying in Ben Stiller's The Heartbreak Kid, gives nearly the exact same frustrating performance here. She's pretty but isn't much of an actress based on what little I've seen. This movie gets a 4/10 for two main reasons, Judy Greer and James Marsden. Greer (of Arrested Development, 13 Going on 30 and, recently, The TV Set) does a good job making tolerable the second-banana friend role with some amusing dry delivery and good comedic timing. James Marsden is probably the best part of this one. Seemingly always cast as the cuckold (The Notebook, The X-Men series, Superman Returns, Enchanted) Marsden finally gets the girl, so to speak, and his performance does everything possible with underdeveloped material to assure he'll get a few more chances as a leading man. Despite an absolute lack of chemistry with Heigl, Marsden's wonderful wry delivery and winning performance made this whole movie tolerable. It's not the worst romantic comedy I've ever seen, but it sure feels that way compared to this year's better rom-coms, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Definitely, Maybe.
Overall Score: 4/10
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