The Proposal

The Proposal (2009): starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Betty White
I'm going to try a little something different with this review. I haven't seen The Proposal as of yet (I'm going to see it tonight), but by all appearances, I think I can successfully review this movie without seeing it first, based soley on the trailers and commercials I've seen (and the help of imdb.com). Then, after I've seen the movie, I'll come back and revise my review as necessary. Let me preface this review by saying I am not usually a fan of "romance/comedies" (or romcoms for those who are hip), and am only watching this movie for review purposes. Having said that, I will try to be as objective as possible.

Review pre-movie: Sandra Bullock stars as Margaret Tate, an uptight business woman who's known in her office as an ice queen. She's all business, and why not? It's a man's world out there and she must work twice as hard to compete. Ryan Reynolds plays Andrew Paxton, her much beleaguered assistant/secretary. In today's tough economy, Andrew is willing to put up with the boss from hell, even when most others would quit. The trouble starts for Margaret when her bosses learn she is, in fact an illegal alien from the foreign country of Canada. Threatened with termination and deportation, she quick-wittedly concocts a fiance and phony marriage scheme to keep herself in her position. She grabs the first single guy she sees (that just so happens to be Andrew) and bang! Crisis avoided. Not so fast, Kemosabe. Everything must be legal in order for it to work. She manages to convince Andrew to marry her in order to get her green card, but now, Ryan has the upper hand, and he'll use it for some financial gain/security. Needless to say, they are each using the other for their own personal gain, and this leads to resentment. Soon, the two are at each other's throats, and the situation doesn't improve when Ryan uses his newfound leverage to go visit his family in Alaska (whom he's been unable to see since working for the hard-driving Margaret). Margaret comes along to Alaska and fullfills her role as the "fiance", and from there, all sorts of wacky hijinks ensue. There are scenes of sexually-charged slapstick as Andrew and Margaret somehow, mistakenly wind up naked and on the floor together (much to their horror), and gramma (played by Betty White, who brings her usual plucky charm to the role), says the darndest things. However, during her weekend with Andrew and his family, Margaret slowly begins to understand the value of spending time with loved ones, and greater yet, begins to fall in love with both Andrew and his family. When the marriage of convenience finally takes place, it's a sure bet that it will last a lifetime afterall. It's all very cliched, to be sure, and the sit-commy jokes are all old and have been used in the hundred plus romcoms that have come before. And is Craig T. Nelson doing these movies exclusively now? It's sure to be a great boxoffice payday for all the actors involved (which, to be honest, is why you find actors like DeNiro doing the "Meet The Fockers" series), but for the audience it's really just junkfood for the mind.
** out of *****

After seeing this movie, I pretty much stand by my review, which was scarily accurate. I would, however, bump it up to a 3 out of 5, because despite being utterly predictable, it's watchable and is sure to please fans of romance/comedies everywhere. I have seen worse.