Bullock in the Buff in this Bridal Farce

The Proposal (2009)   

When boss from hell Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) learns that she is about to be deported back to Canada and in the process lose her top job as an editor, she devises a scheme to marry her over efficient assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) in return for promoting him and so keep her job. But their sudden engagement causes INS clerk Mr. Gilbertson to become suspicious and so Margaret and Andrew are forced to head up to Alaska for the weekend to break the news of their sudden engagement to his family. Initially uncomfortable in the sleepy town of Sidcup, Margaret slowly warms to Andrew's family but also Andrew himself.

For the most "The Proposal" is exactly what you expect from a modern rom-com, that is plenty of laughs formed around a stereotypical storyline and little else. There lies one of my main issues with "The Proposal", it is all too stereotypical, so much that within the first few minutes the ending becomes obvious and along the way lit lacks any originality as it relies on cliche scenes, cliche issues and cliche characters. It's not a bad movie for being so thoroughly deplete of anything close to originality and once you accept that there will be nothing new it delivers on those expected laughs.

But whilst it is all very predictable it does a few things reasonably well, especially the city girl struggling to take to the quirky backwater life of her 'fiancee'. Between Sandra Bullock and the glorious Betty White all the obvious fish out of water shenanigans actually do raise plenty of laughs. Probably the most memorable of which is when Betty White's character, Grandma Annie, is communing with Mother Nature and coerces Margaret into joining in expressing herself through chanting and dancing, it's a complete forced set up but achieve the level of embarrassment and humour it is aiming for. The same with the opening scenes which set up Bullock's character as a bitch boss, it's overly forced nearly to the point of over kill but will still make you laugh.

But "The Proposal" is let down by the romantic side of the movie and there is zero chemistry when it comes to Margaret and Andrew, which whilst understandable to start with doesn't change in relation to the story. They're just not believable when they are meant to be, which is down to them being completely 2 dimensional characters. In a way it is a shame as Sandra Bullock does an adequate job of playing the bitch boss and Ryan Reynolds is humorous as her over efficient secretary. But together the pairing just doesn't work making the romance side of "The Proposal" never kick in.

In many ways "The Proposal" is actually rescued by some decent supporting performances most notably from Betty White who despite her advancing years is as sprightly and entertaining as ever as Andrew's crafty Grandma. Alongside White is a charming performance from the much underrated Mary Steenburgen as Andrew's mother who adds a touch of warmth where needed. As for Craig T. Nelson as Andrew's father and Malin Akerman as ex lover Gertrude, well they make up the numbers but little else.

What this all boils down to is that "The Proposal" is very much your run of the mill modern rom-com. It is devoid of any originality but works much of the cliche nonsense well delivering plenty of laughs but unfortunately very little romance. It's by no means a terrible movie but one which never reaches more than a steady heart beat on its journey from start to finish.