'The Big Wedding' Trailer: Katherine Heigl's Movie Comeback Will Be Amazing

Culture

"I miss Katherine Heigl movies!" - said no one ever. Except me. 

There, you know my big secret. I think Katherine Heigl, whom I've adored since her Wish Upon a Star days in the late 90s, is awesome, not just because she stands her ground, but because she's a funny performer. That's why I'm excited she's returning to the big screen with Friday's The Big Wedding, a star-studded film with notables such as Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton, Robert Williams, and emerging actress Amanda Seyfried, to name a few.

Like many rom-coms, The Big Wedding could turn out to be a disappointment, but I'm thrilled to see the Emmy award winner onscreen again. Though I missed 2012's One For the Money, I thought she and Gerard Butler had great chemistry in 2009 comedy, The Ugly Truth. The late Roger Ebert shared a similar sentiment in his own review, which says a lot given his general dislike for the film. I've appreciated her comedic timing and fearless, direct delivery since 2007, when she wowed in Knocked Up, so when she kind of went dark on us for a few years, I was concerned. Sure she gets flak for the unrealistic nature of some of the films she's headlined, but I won't use those projects against her, especially since she's been enjoyable and charming in each of them, a hard feat when you have little to work with.

27 Dresses isn't the greatest movie ever made, but Heigl's rapport with co-star James Marsden makes the rom-com worth seeing. Same goes for her connection with Butler in The Ugly Truth. It looks like she and Topher Grace have an interesting dynamic in The Big Wedding, so I look forward to observing their interactions when I see the movie.

One of her greatest strengths is the back and forth she has with other actors, so I hope she tackles many more projects in the near future. She's perfected the role of the gorgeous type A working woman who can't seem to find the right guy, and to those arguing someone like Heigl would never be down on her luck romantically, she seems to be in a better place in the new film, in which she spends most of her time scolding her dad and looking too prim and proper to be the hot mess we've grown accustomed to the past few years. She's not playing the same role any longer, but even if she were clinging to her "I'm too pretty and smart for my own good" shtick, she'd be just fine in my book. Hopefully she'll sell people outside her fan base on her Big Wedding performance, which is long overdue. I'm ready for Heigl to be a huge movie star again. Fingers crossed she gets there, because she deserves it. 

What do you think about Heigl? Let me know on Twitter: @LauraDonovanUA