The Proposal Review

20 Jul 2009

Critics rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Reviewed by Tom Charity , LOVEFiLM

A middling romantic comedy given a boost by two stars who click...

The Proposal isn’t a must-see, but it’s a good time – a fair proposition in anyone’s book.

Sandra Bullock is Margaret Tate, successful editor in chief at a big New York publishing firm, and a dragon lady feared and reviled by the staff who work under her. Her secretary, Andrew (Ryan Reynolds), loathes working under “Satan’s mistress”, but he’s committed to his career and clings to the hope that she’ll publish his manuscript one day.

That day comes sooner than either of them expects when Margaret’s bosses inform her that her US visa has expired and the authorities mean to deport her back to Canada, no appeal. For once, she’s speechless. Until, that is, Andrew interrupts the meeting.

The Proposal

Starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Denis O'Hare, Malin Akerman

Director Anne Fletcher

Genres Audio Descriptive, Comedy, Romance

Run time 103 mins Certificate 12

Cast details

Sandra Bullock

Born: 26 Jul 1964
Arlington, Virginia

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This seems to be as good a time as any to tell the chairman that she’s marrying her 100% American secretary – news that comes as something of a shock to Andrew.

Sometimes one great scene can give a movie a lift that gets the audience on board even the most improbable story. This scene – which gives the film its name – serves that function here. Their timing impeccable, Bullock and Reynolds play it just so: her desperate improvisation the first crack we’ve seen in Margaret’s hyper-efficient professional façade; his bewilderment, a mixture of shock and confusion. Should he denounce his crazy boss right there and then, or might there be something in this for him?

It doesn’t sound very romantic so far, I know, but mutual loathing is always a solid basis for screwball comedy and Andrew relishes this rare opportunity to get his own back on the boss from hell.

For reasons too contrived to go into here the couple are compelled to fly to his childhood home in Alaska for the weekend and announce their engagement to his folks (Mary Steenburgen) and Craig T Nelson, plus Betty White as “Grandma Annie”). Cue a series of obvious (but still pretty funny) fish-out-of-water jokes about the big city girl struggling to cope with boats, bald eagles and male strippers.

The Proposal: Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock

Bullock is of course a very confident physical comedienne, and if the script calls for her to run around the great outdoors holding up a small dog as an offering to a phone-stealing bird of prey, well, you can be sure she can sell the gag. This is very much her show, with Reynolds relegated to the position of thinking woman’s totty – an honorarium he carries with pride.

We don't go to rom-coms for surprises, but positive reinforcement.

Director Anne Fletcher (27 Dresses) affords the characters enough inner-life to keep things interesting, even if the local Alaskiana is laid on a bit thick. 87-year-old Betty White performing a Native American spirit dance? That’s the definition of pushing it. I could have done with less of the ubiquitous stripper too (Oscar Nunez, from the US version of The Office), but it’s nice that nobody comes out as a stock villain, not even Andrew’s angry dad or the US immigration officer (Denis O’Hare) who maybe takes his duties a little too seriously. In that, of course, he’s rather like Andrew and Margaret, who commit the cardinal sin of putting career advancement before everything else, and must learn to eat humble pie.

No, there’s nothing new or unpredictable in this movie, but then again, everyone involved knows what they’re about. We don’t go to rom-coms for surprises, but positive reinforcement. The Proposal made me smile.

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