The Proposition

This is truly diabolical, a hideous embarrassment, shame on all involved. The performances are rigid, the direction stagey and wooden, the scenery wasted, the action risible, the sexual chemistry non-existant. This is almost so bad it's funny, but definitely not worth the time it takes, which is only 90 minutes, but seems like eternity.

I know that any kind of story that seems more like a romance novel come to life is not going to be an Oscar winner. But sometimes a girl (or boy) gets in the mood for a cinematic box of chocolates. The Proposition would have fit this bill just fine if it weren't for two glaring mistakes.

1. Theresa Russell. Boy oh boy, what a terrible casting mistake. She's good in other roles that are more intense, but in this one her dramatic presence was overexaggerated. She delivered her lines like a drag queen > dramatic eyebrow lifts and over-emphatic one liners. Yuck!

2. The sex scene. It was too much lust. Lust is great, it's realistic...but only in the right vehicle. This scene would have been great in an independent or artsy film...but in a kinder, fluffier film like Proposition: less would have been so much more.

The best part of this movie was Patrick Bergen. Oh well, there's always Lifetime. LOL

A lot of movies are so bad they're good. This is not one of them. The brief summary in TV Guide suggested to me that this would be a comedy-western. Western England, maybe. A comedy, definitely not. A drunk does lead a cattle drive for some women who are told women shouldn't be able to do that sort of thing. That concept sounded appealing but never developed the way I would have liked. This movie would likely appeal to the sort of people who liked 'Wuthering Heights.' There is action violence, which might please some people, but in and of itself it didn't do anything for me. A wasted two hours.

I felt that the Proposition was a good period film!

It had a good story line and kept my attention the whole way through!

Overall it is a good film that it worth renting out!

Those with ultra-high expectations will of course be disappointed (some crazily over-reactive reviews on this page), but it's basically what you'd expect it to be - a fairly typical, historical/action TV movie made in the late 1990s.

The good sides include the novelty value of a Western-style cattle drive story set in Napoleonic-era Wales; the costumes, location and photography all look good too. There is also some pleasure to be had, albeit a guilty pleasure, in the trashy/camp acting and general feel of it all. Theresa Russell's breathy pouting and eyebrow dynamics reminded me of, say, an episode of Dynasty, with an accent that is sometimes Welsh but mostly an odd hybrid of a leprechaun and Groundskeeper Willie. The plot is the usual stuff - she has a 'quarrelsome-but-lustful' dynamic with her tough-guy ramrod while his brother (the Sheriff) is mad with unrequited love for her, prompting further drama.

It's a bit formulaic and doesn't really engage you emotionally but it flows well enough, as an adventure if nothing else. The fight scenes certainly supply tension. So if light escapism into worlds of historical-action-drama is your thing, then you could do a lot worse than this. Not amazing sure, but watchable.