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''Actually I picked up on all her little hints. This woman is about as subtle as a gun.''
A pushy boss forces her young assistant to marry her in order to keep her Visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada.
Sandra Bullock: Margaret Tate
Well upon seeing the latest film by Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, and seeing those tempting and tantalizing trailers I can safely say this is a formulaic romantic comedy with a twist. It's predictable and the storyline has been done countless times...yet does this stop the film from being any less fun? The answer is yes and no. At times I felt The Proposal tries to hard to get it's kicks and laughs out of us the audience, whether it's little crazy grandma Annie played by wonderful Betty White doing a tribal dance while Sandra starts shaking her booty, or Ryan and Sandra bumping into each other, strangely had me scratching my head as to the point of these proceedings. I was constantly reminded of another romantic comedy of late that Ryan Reynolds had starred in Definitely, Maybe and is it just me or does he have the strangest voice. I mean before he opens his mouth he looks like an ordinary guy, down to earth, somewhat handsome and then the illusion is shattered when the muscular Reynolds opens his mouth. Varying times he did sound ok.
If you are going to see The Proposal because the trailer leads you to believe this is hysterical humour, you will be saddened by what you witness. If you go to get a few kicks added to a smattering of character evolution, then you might enjoy this. I for one wonder why Bullock's and Reynold's parts weren't played by Steve Carell and Demi Moore. The mere idea of those two playing the misdirected characters had a better chance of keeping me in tears of laughter instead of disappointment.
Sandra Bullock as Margaret Tate manages to be quite a bitch as predicted but her performance wasn't spellbinding. The story has her blackmailing her assistant into marrying her to save her visa from expiring, and preventing a swift deportation to her homeland Canada. Predictably Ryan and Sandra start falling for each other, and begin to learn about each as people and connect. As with any twist-entailed romantic comedy whenever lies are involved somewhere in the middle the truth must inevitably come out henceforth The Proposal is no different from any other similar to story in that respect. As events transpire we do start to have some serious emotional scenes but not many, we are constantly bombarded by silliness, ranging from a dog being attacked by a bird of prey, a stripper who was a scary vision of why not to visit Alaska and again I must mention Grandma Annie who was the most charismatic character in the whole film. A similar role to her appearance in Runaway Bride I believe.
The Alaska scenery is actually shot in the daylights of Boston and Rhode Island. Here, Andrew the assistant, introduces Margaret to his parents (Craig T. Nelson and Mary Steenburgen) and his legend Grannie Annie about to turn 90 (Betty White, 87 years young). The women immediately take a liking to Margaret and accept her as part of the family. However, the father is more cantankerous and doesn't want to see his son fly away millions of miles from home with his bride-to-be, but he warms up to his son and prospective daughter-in-law near the end of the film.
There are a lot of laughs that keep the audience rolling, and intermittently, there are scenes played with heart for good balance. No, this is not going to make movie history or win any Academy Awards, but it is a light outing for anyone who wants to believe in the idea of love, have a few laughs, or even wants their hearts lifted. The Proposal is an enjoyable, predictable romance for the summer period.
Margaret Tate: On a bed of rosebuds, in a tuxedo. Your son. Your son... and he was choking back soft, soft sobs. And when he held back the tears and finally caught his breath, he said to me...
Andrew Paxton: 'Margaret, will you marry me?' and she said 'yep', the end!
6/10
