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“THE PROPOSAL” (PG-13)
“The Proposal” is a romantic comedy about a book editor who is forced to marry her male assistant in order to stay in the country.
Sandra Bullock (“The Lake House,” “Two Week’s Notice,” “Miss Congeniality,” “The Net,” “Speed”) stars as Margaret Tate, a very demanding and heartless executive book editor from Canada, working at a Manhattan publishing house.
Ryan Reynolds (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “Definitely, Maybe”) co-stars as Andrew “Andy” Paxton, her hardworking, harried and often tormented and abused assistant.
Margaret is often humiliating her employees, especially her male assistant; she is the so-called boss from hell.
In desperate need of a green card and threatened with deportation, the quick-thinking executive declares that she is engaged to marry the unsuspecting Andrew.
Margaret is short of blackmailing her assistant, so Andrew reluctantly agrees to the “business proposal” for a marriage of convenience in return for a position of editor in the company.
However, in order to prove to the government that this is not a sham, they have to visit his parents and convince them of their so-called love.
When the unlikely couple travel to Alaska to meet his quirky family, Margaret, the self-consumed city girl, finds herself completely out of her element.
The new couple also has to fake its way through a surprise wedding thrown by his parents.
In the process of selling the lie and having to spend a lot of time together, they both start truly falling in love.
Co-starring are Mary Steenburgen (“Four Christmases”) and Craig T. Nelson (“The Family Stone”) as Grace and Joe Paxton, Andrew’s parents; Dennis O’Hare (“Changeling”) as Mr. Gilbertson, the immigration agent; Malin Akerman (“Watchmen”) as Gertrude, Andrews former girlfriend; and the hilarious Oscar Nunez (TV’s “The Office,” “The Italian Job”) as Ramone, jack of all trades, including exotic dancer.
Betty White (“Stealing Christmas”) is a scene stealer as the frisky 90-year-old ‘Gammy Annie,’ Andrew’s grandmother.
Director Anne Fletcher (“27 Dresses,” “Step Up”) has a way with making comedic situations and clichés entertaining.
The movie is smartly written by Peter Chiarelli; and Bullock and Reynolds have great chemistry and perfect comic timing.
Much of this story plays out in Sitka, Alaska; however, the filmmakers picked Rockport, Mass. for location shooting.
“The Proposal” is a hilarious and delightful comedy with an enjoyable presentation by a very likeable duo; however, the movie does not do justice to the talented Bullock.
