Blackmail is not a proposal (The Proposal (DVD))

Member Name: bilbob20

Product:	The Proposal (DVD)
Date:	27/07/09 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Decent leads and some hilarious dialogue

Disadvantages: Predictable

It looks like Sandra Bulloch is back doing what she does best. After a patchy foray into serious acting, she returns to the type of film that largely makes up her back catalogue film. Thankfully, when writing her leading lady, they avoid turning her into some wet whippet who sits at home and pines for any random man to come along and save her from her singleness.

Treading all-too-familiar ground, The Proposal opens with a witty introduction to Margaret, a magazine editor who lives for her work and who is loathed by her entire staff. On her arrival every morning, magazines are discarded from desks, coffee's are hidden in drawers and the staff hibernate behind a mountain of work to avoid eye contact. The opening, in fact, is not that dissimilar to The Devil Wears Prada's opening, although Bulloch's Margaret is instantly more likeable.

Directly under Margaret's wing is her long suffering assistant Andrew. Andrew's dream is to become editor and have the print of his first manuscript funded by his employer. His dream's come to fruition then when Margaret is threatened by deportation to Canada. In exchange for him marrying her, she'll promote him and publish his writing. What they dont count on is the cunning immigration officer who suspects that they're committing fraud from the very outset.

Margaret and Andrew head off to Alaska to spend the weekend with Andrew's parents in a bit to get to know each other better and prove a more convincing couple. Margaret is shocked to find that Andrew's family aren't poor and practically own half the town. From there on, as she watches his relationship with his family, she see's a different side to him and starts to discover feelings that she hasn't felt for a very long time.

A predictable plot with all the usual gags and cliche's is made better by the always enjoyable Bullock, as she delivers a bitchy turn that barely recedes even when we discover the heart at the centre of our ice maiden. Stunning in her 40's, she is a revelation to watch, and mostly because she makes you laugh in one breath, and tugs at your heart strings the next. The exchange between herself and Andrew midway where she reveals that actually she had been upset by a disagreement with a former employee allows us to see that she is more than just a weight-obsessed career freak.

Ryan Reynolds is proving to be a reliable, if somewhat odd choice for leading man. He isn't particularly good looking, and looks a bit goofy most of the time. However, and perhaps its because he is constantly battered down by an evil employer, Reynolds is endearing to watch, and actually his part as Andrew is less predictable than the part of Margaret.

As usual, movie snobs are out in force to berate this type of film. Yes, it is predicable, Hollywood, happy ending fodder. Perhaps, visually it doesn't match up to the big action adventures, or have the gusto of the Tarentino-type violence, but when an enjoyable cast that also includes Betty White and Mary Steenenburg come together for something that is often funny and heart warming, who cares that we know whats coming. In fact, I welcomed a happy ending, especially for Margaret who had clearly lacked warmth in her life for most of it.

Anne Fletcher directs the picture, and even gets a few laughs out of the eternal daylight that those poor Alaskans have to endure. She makes perfect use of the pictures beautiful surroundings including a giant lake house that houses 3 people but could house an entire family. Some of the situations that she engineers are a little questionable, including when Bullock and Reynolds come together with a little too much on show. This romp is enjoyable not because of Fletcher's reasonable direction but because of her engaging leads and a return to form from Sandra Bullock.

Summary: A predictable but funny romp.