Don't be surprised if moviegoers accept The Proposal with no questions asked.
The music that established star Sandra Bullock and star-on-the-rise Ryan Reynolds make together in the formula romantic comedy The Proposal may not be beautiful, but it sounds pretty darn good.
Bullock plays Margaret Tate, a high-powered, controlling chief book editor from Toronto who works for a large publishing house in New York City and discovers that her visa is about to expire. What she needs is a fiancé visa.
So, to avoid deportation by the US immigration agency, she drafts her long-suffering but ambitious assistant, Andrew Paxton, an aspiring author played by Ryan Reynolds (who has responded to her every workplace whim for three years in hopes of eventually being promoted to an editor slot) to ... marry her.
He reluctantly agrees to the charade but demands several conditions of his own: that promotion for one, and publishing his book for another.
She begrudgingly agrees to the deal, in hopes of fooling a suspicious immigration official, whom she tells that she and Andrew have conducted their relationship surreptitiously.
That's when Andrew announces that they will be traveling to his hometown -- the seaside town of Sitka, Alaska -- so that fiancé Margaret can meet his parents (Mary Steenburgen and Craig T. Nelson) and celebrate his grandmother's (Betty White) 90th birthday.
Now it's time for sophisticated New Yorker Margaret to be the fish out of water.
The chemistry between the generally genial and thus essentially miscast but admirably game Bullock (also the co-executive producer) and the characteristically smooth and funny Reynolds is at best sufficient, but that's more than enough in a romantic comedy that's stronger at comedy than romance. The laughs are there.
This is easily the strongest of choreographer-turned-director Anne Fletcher's three films thus far (27 Dresses, Step Up). Like many romantic comedies, it wears its formulaic nature and ultimate predictability like badges of honor.
But Fletcher knows that the fun is in the how-will-they-change mechanics, and on that level the film is breezy and eminently watchable.
The screenplay by Peter Chiarelli flirts with, but never quite resorts to, convolutedness, and remains smart and entertaining from first reel to last, with perhaps a short scene or two along the way that jumps the shark.
But the narrative flow is, all things considered, pretty smooth.
The romantic trajectory in The Proposal is nothing if not predictable (with perhaps the exception of the lack of Sarah Palin jokes). But there's nothing like tidy execution, professional comic timing, and snappy pacing to make up for a lack of groundbreaking originality.
And director Fletcher even makes the worst of the romcom conventions and clichés -- the dreaded one-on-one climactic conversation between Him and Her in front of a silent audience at a public gathering -- pass muster.
This is one high-concept romcom that delivers the goods.
So we'll say "I do" to 3 stars out of 4 for the well-crafted The Proposal -- while humming "Here Comes the Bribe."
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/16/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Planet 51," "New Moon," and "The Blind Side." (3:02)
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/9/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Precious," "2012," and "Pirate Radio." (3:02)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 11/13/09
This week KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the drama "Precious," the adventure disaster "2012," and the comedy "Pirate Radio." (17:24)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 11/06/09
This week KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine look at the comedy-war film, "The Men Who Stare at Goats," the animated re-make, "A Christmas Carol," and the horror-mystery-thriller "The Fourth Kind." (18:45)
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/2/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "The Men Who Stare at Goats", "A Christmas Carol" and "The Fourth Kind". (3:01)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/30/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the Chris Rock documentary, "Good Hair," Michael Jackson's "This is It," and the action-crime-drama "The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day." (17:43)
Movie Reviews - Week of 10/26/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Good Hair", "This Is It" and "Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day". (3:00)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/23/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the animated adventure "Astro Boy," the bio-drama"Amelia," and the action-adventure-comedy "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant." (17:20)
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He reluctantly agrees to the charade but demands several conditions of his own: that promotion for one, and publishing his book for another.
