Here's a wedding comedy likely to scare the popcorn off your boyfriend.  Nevertheless, I dragged a not-so-willing accomplice along with me to “27 Dresses” to see if director Anne Fletcher could make a decent go of the belabored “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” plot device. The result? A decent, if predictable, reinterpretation of a tried-and-tested, box office friendly genre.

Heigl plays Jane, a compulsive organizer of her friends' weddings, to which she’s donned a total of 27 different horrifying dresses and has the house of horrors frock closet to prove it. So devoted a bridesmaid is she that she double books herself at two weddings in one night, catching the eye of an adorably annoying wedding writer (Marsden) come future love interest. But here’s the classic love-triangle hitch: she’s also got the hots for her boss (Burns), the same boss that’s due to marry her younger sister. And guess who’s been roped in to help plan their wedding? Yep, none other than our heroine.

Heigl is cute, engaging and likeable as this lonely, heartbroken soul, still eternally hopeful for a perfect wedding of her own. And while there was lots of potential for clever, satirical scripting that never materialized, this rom-com will still be unashamedly liked by everyone that likes a bit of harmless cheese. Plus, any girl who has ever been stuffed into some putrid plumage by their “best friend” should watch it because, guaranteed, these dresses are worse. - 3 stars.

Directed by Anne Fletcher. Starring Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Malin Akerman, Judy Greer and Edward Burns. Category IIA, 107mins.