DVD Movie: The Proposal

Oh, geez, haven't written in here for a while. How about that, nearly a month of inactivity?

Most recently, I sat down with the family to have a little movie night. Past films have included Borat (2006) and The Hangover (2009) - both ideal family films, The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), Marley & Me (2008), The Namesake (2006), off the top of my head, amongst many others.

And then came The Proposal (2009), a snappy American romantic-comedy film starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. It's not the greatest film, nor is it the greatest romance film, comedy film, etc. However, it does keep up the energy for a decent amount of time. I'm certain that the plot is not entirely original, but it works.

For those that have not watched the movie yet, Sandra Bullock basically plays a workaholic, control-freak style chief editor - Margaret Tate - at a publishing company, who is accompanied by Ryan Reynolds, her somewhat too generous assistant - Andrew Paxton. Tate, a native of Canada, one day is placed on the verge of deportation (visa transgression, of course), realizes that by marrying a U.S. citizen (hapless Paxton), she can navigate around the immigration laws.

And so the comedy starts there. Paxton, wanting to become an editor at the publishing company, works out a deal with his boss, agreeing to marry her as long as he becomes editor. They plan to wed, and as soon as all the necessary paperwork goes through, divorce afterward. Of course, things don't go so smoothly... in the first 95% of the 108 minutes worth of screening time. And there's some more comedy to go with a budding romance.

Prototypical. Many characteristics of a romantic-comedy film show up, making it fairly easy to predict upcoming events. But the good thing is that despite being able to foreshadow, most events in the film bring about subtle twists to bring up some more funny. The only downside is that the writers didn't bother twisting the ending too much. In layman's terms, from the climax to the ending, it was pretty generic.

It was an enjoyable film, though. I particularly liked Bullock's portrayal of a socially awkward, fierce witch of a businesslady. Conversely, I also enjoyed watching Reynolds take hold of the somewhat victimized and confused role of a good-hearted assistant editor.

Most likely not a worthy film for an Oscar, but at least it took part in an award at the Golden Globe (Bullock nominated "Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy, or Musical").