The Proposal proposes the notion that an excessively cliché-ridden romantic comedy can tiptoe around inherent predictability and a mushy fairytale ending by piling on humor. Enough humor that the genre might as well rename itself to “comedic romance.”
Achieving laughs to mask mediocrity is aided by the timely casting of amiable Ryan Reynolds, the lone bright spot of X-Men Origins: Wolverine thanks primarily to his spot-on comedic timing. The intangibles Reynolds brought to Wolverine are amplified exponentially in The Proposal.
Reynolds plays Drew, a subservient personal assistant to a witch of a book editor boss Margaret (Sandra Bullock) whom he painfully sticks with in hopes of launching his own editing career. Their hate-don’t care relationship takes a peculiar turn when Margaret is faced with deportation to Canada and sees bright-eyed, kindhearted Drew walk into the room as a beacon of instant US citizenship.
Faced with the choice of marry a woman he loathes or be canned and blacklisted professionally, Drew reluctantly accepts the offer and takes Margaret to spend the weekend with his wealthy family in Alaska including his ridiculously rich parents (sweet Mary Steenburgen and gruff Craig T. Nelson) and grandmother (forever “Golden Girl” Betty White) celebrating her 90th birthday to prove to a suspicious customs officer that their union is not a sham. Just when the false couple cannot stand the sight of each other the most during a family and friends gathering, Drew loudly proclaims Margaret is his fiancée which thrusts her into the family’s good graces and spotlight.
Sandra Bullock ends a two-year absence from romantic comedy with The Proposal in a role tailor-made for her personality and girl next door looks. Bullock is too naturally charming and sweet to be convincing as pure evil in heels, a trait that plays perfectly into Margaret’s hidden past. Aged well past 40 years, Bullock is not ashamed to drop her clothes next to a man 12 years younger and proves she can still make audiences laugh such as battling an archaic computer with dial-up Internet while trying to access email.
Ryan Reynolds opens up his full arsenal of bewildered facial expressions with Drew that are impossible not to chuckle at. Drew as a character is severely underwritten but Reynolds breathes life into him even when the script offers little of interest for him to say. His reaction to Margaret catching him blindly with the wedding idea in front of the company’s brass is priceless.
While Reynolds and Bullock share solid banter chemistry, their romantic sparks are few and far between leaving not much room for “romance” in the romantic comedy. In this new “comedic romance” genre, what is lost in romance is additionally replaced by ancillary laughs from the fiery Betty White and Oscar Nunez from The Office as Ramone, a man of many flamboyant talents and skill sets who steals every scene he touches.
The Proposal is destined for success much in the same way J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek was. Each film turns their respective genres upside down by appealing to a broad audience with extensive humor and mass appeal rather than treading in the footsteps of predecessor films aiming to please niche fans only. With The Proposal’s success expect to see the “comedic romance” concept grow exponentially in the coming years, blatantly formulaic and unsurprising storylines and all.
– Dan Bradley
