Info: Opens today in theaters everywhere; rated PG-13 for sexual material and language, and brief drug references; 104 minutes.
This unfunny buddy comedy stars Diane Keaton as a well-heeled suburbanite who, needing health insurance for herself and her laid-off corporate husband (Ted Danson), takes an unlikely job cleaning toilets at a Federal Reserve bank. (What, Starbucks wasn't hiring?) Naturally, she immediately begins plotting to rob the place. After recruiting two co-workers - single mom Queen Latifah and ditzy youngster Katie Holmes - the shrill Keaton masterminds an elaborate, high-tech plan that, well, basically requires smuggling wads of cash from the building in their underwear. Latifah is appealing in a clichéd role, but Keaton overacts and Mrs. Cruise does little but dance around to her ever-present ÂiPod.
- Brandon Griggs
27 Dresses
Info: Opens today in theaters everywhere; rated PG-13 for language, some innuendo and sexuality; 107 minutes.
Katherine Heigl, whose blond underwear-model-turned-surgeon character was once the heart of "Grey's Anatomy," is glammed down with mousy brown hair for this lame romantic comedy by the screenwriter of "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Laws of Attraction." In "27 Dresses," the New York settings are beautiful, the plot twists are hackneyed and the characters (Edward Burns as the dense, handsome boss, Judy Greer as the truth-telling crass best friend, Malin Akerman in the Cameron Diaz role of the beautiful, shallow little sister) are paint-by-numbers clichés. Heigl's charm is hidden behind Jane's only outstanding character trait - dependablity - while her onscreen chemistry doesn't catch fire in her hate-at-first-sight romance with Kevin (James Marsden), a charming, ambitious wedding-scene beat reporter. The most original element of this 27-times-a-supportive-bridesmaid, never-the-boss's-bride story is Jane's impressively ugly collection of wedding-attendant dresses.
- Ellen Fagg


