The Proposal (2009)

I still remember the first time I watched The Proposal — I liked the movie so much I talked about it all the time and I even convinced my mother to watch it. I've been meaning to rewatch it for quite some time to see how I'd feel about it now and, since recently I'm often in the mood for romantic comedies — what is happening to me? — I finally did. 

The story follows Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock), a successful editor at a prestigious New York publishing house, and her personal assistant, Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds). When Margaret, a Canadian, faces deportation due to an expired visa, she blackmails Andrew to marry her. In return, she would promote him to editor and publish his book. Mr. Gilbertson (Denis O'Hare), however, the clerk of the immigration department is a bit sceptical and schedules an interview on the next Monday, so Margaret and Andrew travel to Alaska to celebrate his grandmother's (Betty White) ninetieth birthday and announce their engagement.

The plot to The Proposal is very far from being perfect as it's very predictable, clichéd and unrealistic — that's kind of the point of romantic comedies though —, there are many plot holes, subplots that make no sense whatsoever — I'm still wondering what was the point of that plot involving Andrew's ex-girlfriend as she doesn't have any impact on the story, and that Andrew and Margaret's love comes completely out of the blue — a scene with them bonding over literature and books would have been nice. Despite these flaws, it still manages to be engaging and fun.

The characters aren't particularly well-written either as they are nothing but clichés — Margaret is bossy and bitchy because of course all women in power have to be portrayed as horrible human beings, and Andrew is the ambitious person willing to do whatever it takes to make his dream come true — and quite cartoonish, especially Andrew's grandma. Also, there are so many secondary characters thrown into the story that are pointless and kind of take away the focus from Margaret and Andrew. Still, it's fun to see them interact with each other and, despite how unbelievable it is, it comes more than natural to root for Margaret and Andrew.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The cast is what I love the most about The Proposal. Sandra Bullock — who happens to be the reason I first watched this many years ago — and Ryan Reynolds are both so charismatic and have such nice chemistry — they even dated in real life at some point —, they are a delight to watch. It also helps that they are pretty funny in their roles too. It's Betty White as the dopey grandma, Annie, and Oscar Nuñez as Ramone, the exotic dancer/Mr. I do it all, that absolutely steal the show though with their hilarious, a little over the top performances.

As for the comedy, The Proposal relies a lot on overused jokes and slapstick but it works pretty well and overall the film is quite funny.