The Proposal

Jeri Jacquin, Movie Maven

Opening in theatres this week is a comedy from Touchstone Pictures and director Anne Fletcher with the romantic comedy “The Proposal”

This film tells the story of Margaret (Sandra Bullock) a powerful and savvy New York book editor for Colden Books.  Then, there is Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds), her personal assistant who Margaret takes great pleasure in torturing on a regular basis.

One day her boss, Bergen (Michael Nouri) drops the bomb that she is being deported back to Canada. Without blinking an eye Margaret drops a bomb of her own – that she is engaged to Andrew! This is news to her bosses, to immigration officials…and more importantly – to Andrew!

Andrew agrees but with conditions. That’s when the couple heads to Alaska for the weekend to meet Andrew’s family. His mother Grace (Mary Steenburgen) and father Joe (Craig T. Nelson) welcome Margaret to the family. Even Grandma Annie (Betty White) has a few opinions and has no problem sharing them.

It is here that Margaret finds herself out of place and out of control. With immigration not far behind they must decide what to do about the predicament they finds themselves in.

FINAL WORD: This is the Sandra Bullock we all know. Another romantic comedy that shows her timing and snappy one-liners that could only be funny coming from Bullock.

Reynolds is still charming as always and in this role he plays second fiddle but does it well. As the tormented insecure Andrew he also has a brand of humor that is purely Reynolds. This actor seems to be a favorite and soon to be the star to the next X-Men installment.

Steenburgen is delightful as Grace and Nelson, as always, is commanding and funny as Joe. The hilarity also comes from Betty White as Grandma Annie. This actress has been around the scene for along time and this performance shows she still has what it takes!

Also in the cast is Denis O’Hare as Mr. Gilbertson, Michael Mosely as Chuck, Malin Ackerman as Gertrude, Oscar Nunez as Ramone, Aasif Mandvi as Bob Spaulding and Dale Place as Jim McKittrick.

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give “The Proposal” three tubs of popcorn out of five. It is a predictable story and a definite date night film. Even so, Bullock continues to have that comic streak that audiences love about her.

So go with the idea that it’s a fairly straightforward story line and a romantic fun film and you can’t go wrong.

Remember, with this kind of proposal one can only sing ‘here comes the bribe’!