I am not a fan of “chick flicks” as a rule. I prefer comedies, action, horror. Actually, the more action, be it either sexual or explosive in nature, the happier I am. However, after watching The Proposal, directed by Anne Fletcher (choreography on Boogie Nights), I’m willing to concede that it was an entertaining movie, without having to add the codecil “for a chick flick!”
Ryan Reynolds (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Waiting) stars as Andrew Paxton, the forever put upon Assistant to Sandra Bullock’s (Miss Congeniality, Speed) Margaret (not Maggie) Tate. Supporting cast includes Craig T. Nelson (Blades of Glory, Coach), Mary Steenburgen (Step Brothers, Back to the Future Part III), and the adorable Betty White (The Golden Girls, Lake Placid) as Andrew’s “Gammie” Anne Paxton. Also, Malin Ackerman (Watchmen, Harold & Kumar Go To Whitecastle) as Andrew’s ex-girlfriend Gertie.In a lot of ways, The Proposal was exactly what you would expect from this type of movie, a typical love story taken out of a Harlequin novel. Young assistant works for cranky, older workaholic boss, waits to be noticed for their merit and situations rise where they fall in love along the way, only to lose each other at a climactic moment near the end. Where this film pulls me in is the character swap. In absolutely atypical fashion, the May-September romance in this movie is Bullock at age 44 and Reynolds who is 32, and in a casting move that just makes me feel so happy, the older woman is ACTUALLY PLAYED BY AN OLDER WOMAN! Not like Alexander, where Angelina Jolie plays Colin Farrell’s mother, despite being only a year older than him. After watching Sean Connery get Catherine Zeta Jones (though given who her husband is, I guess that’s not too far fetched), Michael Douglas get Annette Benning, Richard Gere get Julia Roberts, and assorted other old men with beautiful twenty year old leading ladies, it does me proud to see Bullock and Reynolds play against each other, despite the lack of any kind of sexual tension or chemistry on either part. Which is ok by me, much easier to crush on Reynold’s. Even if he is married to Scarlett Johansen. That means they’re both off the market, and that's just upsetting on every level.
The plot is as simple as can be. Tate is a high powered Editor in chief for a publishing company who is facing deportation back to her native Canada (I need to applaud the writer for not throwing a single noticeable “eh” into her speech, though really there was no point where I would have been like “oh, wow she’s Canadian” if they hadn’t said it straight out) for ignoring some visa related laws. As her bosses are making preparations for her to leave, she quickly announces that she is marrying her assistant, Andrew, and of course, because inter-office dating is frowned upon they couldn’t tell anyone of their romance, especially, as Andrew adds, since he is about to get that big promotion. He agrees to the marriage after Tate blackmails, threatening the career he’s worked so hard for, and he agrees to save his career, get that promotion, and get a novel he has chosen published.
I went to this movie purely to see Ryan Reynold’s without his shirt, which is silly when you consider the fact that I can do a five second internet search and save myself $10, but that is beside the point. Once there I found myself really getting into the story. Bullock plays the part of uber-bitch like she was born to it, and manages the transition to the sympathetic character needed to side with her at the climax effortlessly. As much as we hate her when the movie opens, we are equally on her side as she risks deportation while falling in love with the family of the man she’s trying to organize a sham wedding with.
The movie is primarily set in Sitka, Alaska, an absolutely beautiful setting that provides a perfect setting for the fish out of water, New York City girl in a small town. Here Tate discovers that Andrew’s family owns half the businesses in town. He introduces her to his mother (Steenburgen) and Gammie, who welcome her to the family with open arms and quirky family rituals, more than Tate is used to as she’s been alone since she was sixteen and her parents died. When Andrew introduces Tate to his father, the reception is less than warm, and we see that Joe Paxton (Nelson, Andrew’s dad) doesn’t respect the editing job that Andrew “fools around with,” and they fight because Joe wants Andrew to take over the family business.
This is all shadowed by the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) agent who is trying to prove that Tate and Paxton are committing fraud so she can stay in the country, threatening Andrew with a $250,000 fine and 5 years in jail if he goes through with the fraud.
I wished for a little more character interaction. For a romantic comedy, there was hardly any romance, even for a PG rating. I laughed from start to finish, but there were only one or two real "awwww" moments, when you are really waiting for the two leads to fall for each other. The movie wasn’t long enough for the kind of development that would really make this a classic romantic film.
Gertie, Andrew’s ex, is the beautiful hometown girl that Andrew left behind when he went to New York to be an Editor, because she didn’t want to leave. As Andrew's first visit after three years of being away goes on, we can see Andrew falling easily into the family routine, and it would have been easy for Gertie to try and slide in, support Andrew and be the girl that every woman about to be married fears, the one that got away, but the writers avoid this. Gertie is sweet to Tate, and supportive to Andrew to get married, and I was impressed that the film makers didn’t take an easy out with her character.
I went to see this as part of a girl's night out, otherwise I probably wouldn't have gravitated to it until it was either in the cheap theaters or on the movie channels, but now that I've seen it once I wouldn't mind watching it again. Though in time I might add it to my collection of movies that I watch over and over again to yell as I notice plot holes and stupid characters (Rent [stupid Roger], Hairspray [I just want to kick Brad], Shoot 'Em Up [there's no way he can shoot that accurately using string to pull the trigger]), but those are fun to watch when you need to relieve tension, and the best way to do that is by yelling.
3 out of 5
Laura Gies
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