La propuesta

Even though it so clearly apes the set-up of David Frankel's "The Devil Wears Prada", I think the first 25 minutes of this 2009 romantic comedy has genuine snap enhanced by the sharp comedy interplay between stars Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Once the story leaves the Manhattan publishing house for the pastoral wilderness of Alaska, the story reverts into a formulaic sitcom bearing more than a passing resemblance to Bullock's break-out vehicle, 1995's "While You Were Sleeping", including an escalation of comic deceptions and a heart-tugging wedding confessional. Give credit to the fortyish actress/producer for not giving in too much to standard ingénue behavior this time. In fact, she plays the alpha dog with Reynolds relegated to the traditional leading lady role. The result produces enough contrived shenanigans to please Bullock's die-hard fans thanks to by-the-numbers work by director Anne Fletcher ("27 Dresses") and first-time screenwriter Pete Chiarelli.

The storyline has Bullock playing vituperative book editor Margaret Tate, a workaholic careerist who instills fear into her entire office. As her bullied assistant Andrew Paxton, Reynolds caters to her every whim in the hopes that she will help boost his publishing career. As is typical for an opposites-attract rom-com, a complication occurs when Margaret, a Canadian, finds out she is to be deported because her visa application has been denied. Instead of facing immediate termination, she manipulates Andrew to let her superiors know that they are getting married. This moment of desperate deceit leads to an awkward visit with an immigration agent who senses a green-card arrangement and requires proof of their relationship. In order to avert suspicion, Margaret accompanies Andrew to visit his close-knit family in Sitka, Alaska, where it is revealed his family is quite wealthy and in fact, run many of the businesses in town.

They continue their charade of being engaged, which of course, fans the flames of his family's enthusiasm for a wedding. The rest of the film is pretty much you would expect save a strange episode of Andrew's grandmother performing a native dance in the woods. It's funny to see how Bullock cleverly uses the same prickliness she displayed effectively in her near-cameo in Paul Haggis' "Crash" in this film's establishing scenes as Margaret. In turn, Reynolds shows smart timing as put-upon Andrew, and their interplay has a nice edge. Note how well they perform during the best scenes early on when Margaret baldly lies about their upcoming nuptials at the office and in front of the immigration officer. It's just when they move into more traditional rom-com territory where their chemistry feels weakened and the sparks doused. Chiarelli's haphazard screenplay doesn't help them as they have little beyond one bedtime confessional scene to make us think they may belong together. Craig T. Nelson plays a familiar role as Andrew's disapproving father, but their subplot weighs down the proceedings unnecessarily.

Except for one brief face-off with Nelson, Mary Steenburgen is wasted as Andrew's always-smiling mother. Betty White is a welcome sight as feisty Grandma Annie, although I wish the creators could have made her more like Sue Ann Nivens ("The Mary Tyler Moore Show") and less like Rose Nylund ("The Golden Girls"). As the girl Andrew left behind in Sitka, Malin Akerman ("Watchmen") is actually left stranded by the script, while Oscar Nuñez ("The Office") grows increasingly tiresome as store clerk/male stripper Ramone. His absurd club performance, along with a nude run-in between the principals, just shows how little faith the creators had in the material to sustain the plot. Standard extras come with the 2009 DVD: a decent commentary track from Fletcher and Chiarelli (but sadly not the actors), seven minutes of outtakes, two deleted scenes of little interest, and an alternate ending which really just switches the locale versus the resolution.

Most charming Sandra Bullock movie since While You Were Sleeping, though quite a bit more predictable. (Anyone who knows the general premise can guess how the movie is going to play out.) But it was funny and sweet, and if you need to choose something to take your wife/girlfriend to, choose this one.

Sandy's attempting a Miranda Priestly-type character (Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada) which doesn't actually suit her acting style very well, but when you get used to her she's fun to watch. And she has great comic timing. So does Ryan Reynolds for that matter, who has a way of just looking perplexed that can make you snicker.

Well, if I could split the movie into two, I would say that the first half is a superb Proposal and the second half is fairly traditional Hollywood pablum. In the first half, the wonderful comedic timing and chemistry between Bullock and Reynolds was terrific. The writing was first-rate intellectual, snappy sparring, even throwing in some literary references in the put-downs. Kudos to the Director, Anne Fletcher, and the Screenwriter, Pete Chiarelli.

The completely different tone in the second half, I surmise, could only be attributed to the studios/producers stepping in and stating that the film must appeal to a wider audience. We, then, get lots of family characters thrown in, with a great reduction of Bullock and Reynolds mutual screen time. And when they do share time in the second half, it's more about slapstick/physical humor (cue studios/producers needing appeal to wider, a.k.a, younger audience). Maudlin music comes in on the soundtrack, letting us know that this part of the movie is supposed to tug on our heartstrings.

I don't buy the inevitable resolution either. I don't believe that it is supported well or justified by what came before it.

The 1st 45 minutes is WELL worth seeing. I wish the filmmakers could have pushed and maintained the pace and feel for the entire movie. Reynolds and Bullock are so good, they could be this generation's Tracy and Hepburn. I'd like to see them in another project that follows through all the way.

BTW, this film was actually shot in Boston and (the Alaska scenes) in Manchester by the Sea and Rockport on the North Shore with digital effects adding snow capped mountains. You might even recognize Motif No.1, a famous small building on a wharf in Rockport which has been the subject of many famous painters' and photographers' work. It was also fun seeing some of my local Boston area acting colleagues doing background work in the film.

Okay, I had been really excited to see The Proposal ever since it came out. I was hyping it up a lot when I knew it wasn't going to be a masterpiece, but I just love Sandra Bullock and Betty White and couldn't wait to get my hands on this film! When I did, it definitely lived up to my expectations.

The thing with The Proposal was you could predict the ending and predict some events that would be happening throughout the film and some of the main problems were cliché, but I wasn't basing my opinions on this movie to be,"Is it going to be predictable, because if it is, I won't like it!" No, I wasn't like that, because I knew this film was going to be predictable here and there, but I was looking to see if they made it enjoyable and at least brought some fresh, new material to the table, which they certainly did that! I thought some scenes were just so wonderfully done and the whole movie itself was constructed perfectly for the type of movie that it is.

I had a really good time watching The Proposal and thought it was great entertainment with insanely lovable characters; I wanted to shriek with joy every time I saw Grandma Annie; a lot of incredibly humorous scenes at times, my favorites were when Margaret and Grandma Annie were dancing to the spirits which got the biggest laughs out of any part of the movie from me and when the dog was picked up by an eagle and Margaret was chasing it around trying to get her phone back; both hysterical, and some questionable, yet sweet and charming dialogue; Near the end in the office was cute and original, and the credits were funny as well with the dialogue in them. This movie while being cliché, as I've stated many times, did still pack a very powerful punch and made me laugh, cry and enjoy it tremendously, so therefore it succeeded in what it was meant to do in the first place and that was to entertain. I loved it for the light-hearted, pleasant and fun comedy that it is....

The Proposal isn't going to win any Oscars, nor will it become your favourite movie of all time. However, it does exactly what it is supposed to do; that is to entertain you. The Proposal is the story of a tough editor Margaret Tate (Bullock) who forces her assistant Andrew Tate (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her so she can stay in the U.S. (Interestingly, in the movie Bullock plays a Canadian and Reynolds an American while in real life, the reverse is true). What happens next will not surprise viewers but they will get many laughs along the way. Reynolds and Bullocks are very funny and also very believable. Betty White (from the Golden Girls) almost steals the show as Andrew's 90 year old "Gammy". The beautiful Alaskan setting doesn't hurt things either. Overall this is not a unique movie or even a unique role for Bullock but it is a very funny (and fun) way to spend an afternoon.