Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
8/22/09
I've read that there are
people afflicted with a mental illness that has them going to the movies
pretty much 24/7, taking in dozens a week, thousands a year. They've
got time to see everything. The rest of us, even ones like me who've
been known to go 3-4 times a week when promising titles are in play, have
to pick and choose. And all we have to base our decisions on are
genres, stars, trailers, and the all-important question “What's this movie
about?” And what an unpromising setup The Proposal, Anne Fletcher's
follow-up to her truly splendid romcom 27 Dresses,
has: nasty boss blackmails her subordinate into marrying her to save
his career and her green card. But I did happen to see it anyway,
and as a great man once said (Siskel or Ebert? My memory fails me...),
it's not what a movie is about, but how it is about it, and The Proposal
has a surprisingly good handle on its' deceptively sentimental concept.
Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds play their roles like people rather than
punching bags, and Pete Chiarelli's screenplay actually seems to know at
least as much about human beings as romcom cliches.
Personal Assistant Andrew
Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) hates, hates, hates his boss Margaret Tate (Sandra
Bullock), but he finds himself firmly under her thumb as he tries to get
ahead in the cutthroat world of Manhattan book publishing. But Margaret's
got a problem: she's from Canada and not an American citizen and
treated the process to renew her Visa with the same disregard as anything
that's just for the little people. Immigration is not amused, and
she's informed that she will be deported and thus lose her job. She
has to think fast, and comes up with a deceptively simple plan, announcing
her plans to marry the only other guy in the room: Andrew.
He plays along, at least until he's informed by obsessed immigration agent
Mr. Gilbertson (Denis O'Hare) that such a scam could lead to prison time.
But Margaret agrees to promote him to Editor if he stays on board and that
means she'll need to accompany him home to Alaska for the 90th birthday
party of Grandma Annie (Betty White). There, she meets his parents
Joe (Craig T. Nelson) and Grace (Mary Steenburgen). Joe disapproves
of everything his son has done since leaving home, and the proposal is
no exception. But exposure to them and the people of his hometown
starts to melt Margaret's steely facade, revealing a sad, lonely woman
Andrew just might fall in love with for real. If Gilbertson doesn't
send them both to jail first.
The Proposal sounds
like another one of those hateful relationship sadism comedies (like this
summer's The Ugly Truth) that I just can't
stand. But it surprised me by chronicling a real emotional connection
between two people who have every reason to hate each other. I really
liked the way both Bullock and Reynolds reveal their initial hostile personas
to be masks hiding their insecurities (she that no one cares about her,
he that he'll never succeed and have to crawl home). And when they
finally look at each other as people rather than obstacles to their workplace
success, they make a connection that feels far more real than those you
see in most romcoms. And I liked that the movie doesn't go too far,
acknowledging in the end that what they've really got is a foundation to
build a relationship on, not the idea that spending a weekend together
has made them soulmates. In the face of the average romantic comedy,
The Proposal's maturity level is staggering.
Which is not to say that
it's without its' share of comic idiocy. Gags revolving around a
small-town exotic dancer (Oscar Nunez) and Grandma Annie's peculiar religious
practices don't deliver the laughs the movie expects. But I did like
those characters; in fact when it can't come up with laughs The Proposal
does deliver good will in spades. White, looking at least 20
years younger than her real-life 87, is a delight every moment she's on
screen. The movie's biggest laugh actually comes from a scene late
in the game that has fun with the expectation we have that things won't
go so well for a beloved mentor figure celebrating their 90th birthday
in a movie like this. Nelson and Steenburgen have a great dynamic
as the parents at odds over the way his dreams for Andrew have pushed him
away. I also really liked Malin Akerman as Andrew's ex who's really
meant to stay that way. There's no real triangle here, as the fake
marriage plot is more than enough to keep things rolling, but the movie
makes skillful use of an old flame to inform Margaret's sense of who her
“fiancée” is. O'Hare is an absolute delight as a paper pusher
who thinks he's Elliott Ness.
Fletcher made her directorial
debut on the utterly unconvincing dance drama Step Up, but her last
two films have shown an impressive ability to get strong, relatable performances
in a genre not known for them. The Proposal isn't as consistently
funny as it might hope to be (though it does have its' share of laughs),
but it tells a story I was really interested in hearing. In light
of how miserable an experience it sounds like on paper, that's a tiny miracle.
But hey, that's why we play 'em, just like Ebert said. Or maybe it
was Siskel... |
