Running time: 107 minutes
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T Nelson, Betty White, Oscar Nunez
Rating 5 out of 10
It's been a while since we have had a Sandra Bullock romantic 'comedy'. Although comedy must be used in the loosest sense of the word here, as this rather desperate attempt to revive the screwball genre of classic Hollywood rarely raises much of a titter.
Bullock, at 44, remains one of Hollywood's biggest hitters: able to command over $10m per job and turn a profit on nearly every picture she makes. To be fair, it's been over six years since her last outing in the genre (Two Weeks' Notice), and her career since then has seen a variety of more worthy fare including a small role in the Oscar-winning Crash.
But it's the rom-com she is best known for and The Proposal is par for the course: Bullock plays (unconvincingly it has to be said) an uptight publishing exec who is reviled by her staff and treats her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) like dirt. When she is threatened with deportation to her native Canada over some visa dispute she concocts the brilliant idea of pretending to be engaged to Reynolds' character and so being allowed to stay in the US.
So far, so unoriginal. What's particularly disappointing about The Proposal is its utter predictability: everything that you think is going to happen does happen, leading to an ending that is as crass as it is ludicrous. Anne Fletcher's by-the-numbers direction prevents anything unlikely or remotely subversive from occurring.
However, there is one redeeming feature and that is Ryan Reynolds who, at 32, is in the toyboy role. His onscreen charm and ease has seen him increasing his own Hollywood star power and here he has the best lines and the best moments. Without him this would be a proposal to reject, thankfully with him it is at least watchable.
Paul Hurley
Bullock, at 44, remains one of Hollywood's biggest hitters: able to command over $10m per job and turn a profit on nearly every picture she makes. To be fair, it's been over six years since her last outing in the genre (Two Weeks' Notice), and her career since then has seen a variety of more worthy fare including a small role in the Oscar-winning Crash.
But it's the rom-com she is best known for and The Proposal is par for the course: Bullock plays (unconvincingly it has to be said) an uptight publishing exec who is reviled by her staff and treats her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) like dirt. When she is threatened with deportation to her native Canada over some visa dispute she concocts the brilliant idea of pretending to be engaged to Reynolds' character and so being allowed to stay in the US.
So far, so unoriginal. What's particularly disappointing about The Proposal is its utter predictability: everything that you think is going to happen does happen, leading to an ending that is as crass as it is ludicrous. Anne Fletcher's by-the-numbers direction prevents anything unlikely or remotely subversive from occurring.
However, there is one redeeming feature and that is Ryan Reynolds who, at 32, is in the toyboy role. His onscreen charm and ease has seen him increasing his own Hollywood star power and here he has the best lines and the best moments. Without him this would be a proposal to reject, thankfully with him it is at least watchable.
Paul Hurley
