The Proposal

 

2009 was in some ways the return of Sandra Bullock to major movie star status. She had pretty much disappeared from the public eye after filming the 2007 mess of a film Premonition. She was focusing on her family life and marriage before she rolled back into the spotlight with the double shot of The Proposal and The Blind Side- wrapped around the misstep All About Steve. Her turn in The Blind Side won her the Academy Award for Best Actress, and rightfully so. In that film she turned in a great performance as a woman giving a young man a chance in life. She hit almost every note perfectly in that film and grounded the film in an emotional center that it needed to balance the line between heartfelt and melodrama. Julia Roberts reportedly turned down the role and I think it worked better with Bullock in the title role. Another film that Roberts apparently turned down was this film, and the role coincidentally went to Bullock as well. While Roberts may kick herself for passing on Side, there is no way she kicks herself for missing out on this role. The movie The Proposal is not just bad, it's aggressively bad.

The movie starts with Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder, Just Friends) working as an executive assistant for an unpleasant book editor played by Bullock. Sandra's character is told by the bosses at her company that her visa has expired and she will be forced to return to Canada. With that crushing news Bullock decides to tell them she is getting married to her assistant and they head off to Alaska for the weekend to visit his family. From there the film generally drifts into the same type of story we've seen thousands of times in these types of films.

The difference here though is how far the script asks the viewer to jump from one extreme to the next. Bullock is a "city girl" who can't fathom why anyone would want to live in the frigid city of Alaska and is confused by the more modest type of living in Sitka, Alaska. From the minute she steps off the plane in Alaska she does everything she can to alienate herself from the kindness she is being shown by everyone. She tries to give away the family dog to an eagle (you're better to not ask). She is miserable that she has to share a room with her assistant and is mortified when she gets thrown a blanket by the grandmother (played by Betty White in the role that launched her revival of the past 12 months) that is referred to as the "Babymaker." Also in one of the dumber scenes in the movie she (and Ryan Reynolds) are disgusted when they walk into each other naked in the room. This is one of those only in the movies type scenes. I know she is his boss and he doesn't like her but she is still a beautiful woman and she is naked. I can't judge the relative hotness of Ryan Reynolds but I would assume many woman wouldn't mind looking at him in the buff.

That scene begins the turnaround between the two which is further strengthened by their love of the song "It Takes Two." From there it is the gradual realization that their fake feelings are real- a point that the audience figures out many miles ahead of the characters. Then they try to pack 35 minutes of conflict and resolution into the last 15 minutes of the film which feels rushed and requires the audience to do some huge logistical aerobics. Normally I wouldn't trash a romantic film like this because generally I find plenty of aspects about them enjoyable. However here the distance the script asks the audience to travel to find the situations plausible is sort of silly.

Really the biggest negative strike against this film is the sheer likability of Sandra Bullock. In every film she has been in- Bullock exudes a warmness that is palpable in almost every reel of film. She feels like she is at home in all groups of people and something about her always strikes as cinematic comfort food. Here though she is asked to be a miserable shrew of a woman which is something she doesn't really pull off well. Because she can't pull that off naturally, she has to "act" and that indication of trying makes the film feel completely unnatural. Then after you've spent 80 minutes watching her act mean the script has her be the emotional heart of the last sections and it just leaves you feeling detached from everything. In The Blind Side, she is asked to be a shrew at times but it is couched more in the motherly/friendly nature of her personality. She is demanding but it's because if she isn't getting your best effort she feels disappointed. In this film, she is a shrew only for the sake of the plot and that doesn't create a likable character. That leaves you with Reynolds character as the only chance for a likable person and they blow that early on by having him blackmail her to be a part of the charade. Once that happens all you have to rely on are the supporting players like Berry White and Oscar Nunez and they come into the film far too infrequently.

SO TO RECAP...

It was great to see the audience rediscover Sandra Bullock in 2009. Something about her always strikes as a natural and someone who you genuinely want to root for in films. However, her latter film in the year is a far better example of how good an actress she can be and is far more deserving of her home-spun charms. Reynolds and her have some chemistry but the script does them no justice throughout and it would be nice to see what they could do with better fleshed out roles. As I see it- The Proposal is worthy of