James Marsden stars opposite Katherine Heigl in a charming romantic comedy about a woman who would love to get married and settle down with a soul mate— but instead she is the perennial bridesmaid, always starring in other peoples’ weddings. Marsden’s cynical journalist Kevin is certainly not the type of the man she is looking for.

She has her heart set on her boss, played by Ed Burns— but he adores her gorgeous sister, Tess (Malin Akerman). 27 Dresses is a  classic romantic comedy where everyone seems to be at cross-purposes.  
Excerpts from an interview with James Marsden:

What appealed to you about Kevin and this film?
In the last six or seven years of my career I have managed to find my way into a lot of love triangle movies. And I’ve always been the guy who doesn’t end up getting the girl. My character is usually nice and you can’t help but love him, but he is not really central to the story. So I definitely had an appetite for something that allowed me to be the leading man...  not that I get the girl in this film— it is more complicated and I will not give away the story and plot. But this is a central role so great fun.

How did you get the role?
My agent sent me the script and I was making Hairspray at the time, working with Anne Fletcher who was one of the choreographers on that film. She was about to direct this one. I was joking with her and said: ‘What is the movie all about and why aren’t I in it?’ It sounded so great with Katherine Heigl whom I love. I was giving Anne a hard time and she said: ‘That’s a really good question, actually, you should be in it.’ I told her I was only kidding. And that is how it started. Just a few weeks later she called me and said: ‘You know you made that joke about the movie I am doing? Now I want you to be in my movie.'

What is Kevin like?
Kevin works for the New York Journal and he is in the ‘Vows’ section of the paper, the ‘Commitment’ section, covering weddings. He writes poetic, beautifully constructed little articles and pieces about people getting married— and women love the way he writes. He almost writes in a romance novel sort of way, so you really get a feel for the story about the partners who are getting married. But he hates it and does not see it as real journalism, he is a cynic. He doesn’t believe in marriage and romance and thinks it is all ridiculous and meaningless. But he is doing it because he wants to get into the real newsroom at his paper, covering subjects that are more interesting to him. He is begging  his boss for a real story.

It actually looks like there is great chemistry between Katherine and you...

Of course, it would be hard not to be attracted to somebody that looks like Katherine Heigl. Jane’s a really cute girl, she is gorgeous and Kevin is definitely distracted.

Women of course tend to love romantic comedy; do you think men enjoy this kind of film too?
I think they will enjoy this film you know, I’ve been trying my best to sort of inject a fair amount of ‘guy humour’ into the movie. You do have to be careful, because a lot of romantic comedies have too much femininity— there are all the dresses and the weddings and everything but this film is smart and witty. Personally, I think it will appeal to everyone, I don’t believe that a movie is a guy movie or a girl movie. It is just a good movie. I think you can make romantic comedy that will appeal to guys as well. And so, I’m trying to represent the guy’s perspective on all of this, which helps to make it all realistic. Kevin sees Jane keeping 27 dresses in her closet, dresses that look ridiculous too by the way, and he sees that as crazy and amusing. But it’s interesting to him at the same time, so he digs for more information about her.

Are you romantic?
Yes I am— I loved The Notebook and so did a lot of guys I know.  
DHNS