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THE PROPOSAL Anne Fletcher Starring Sandra Bullock Ryan Reynolds Mary Steenburgen Craig T Nelson Betty White I love delusional escapism; not necessarily for the plot, setting or characters but for the fact they lack any semblance of realism yet still manage to completely get away with it. Escapism takes many forms and spans many cinematic genres but the key to making a successful escapist piece is to find your target audience. If you intend to market for guys you throw in a handful of ridiculous action sequences and for women, produce conflict resolution. That's all there is to it. Men want to see everything they're not (because they lack the circumstantial opportunity and the actions involved are largely beyond the realm of physics) and women want to see everything wrapped up neatly (because that almost never happens in real life, if only for the fact that nothing is static, nothing ends). So, with this in mind, you would think I would have enjoyed The Proposal on some level. I didn't. The plot is as formulaic as they come and from the very etchings at the start you can quickly piece together how the duration will flow. Margaret Tate [Bullock] is an uptight Canadian editor for a major publishing house; she spends the vast majority of her time prancing around barking orders in tight suits, high heels and Croydon-facelift style ponytails. Andrew [Reynolds] is a schlub; dedicated to his work but devoid of any social life outside of running every possible errand for his aforementioned menacing boss. Take these two completely different individuals, throw in an expired Immigration Visa, a fake marriage, indicting Federal fraud and a crazy family in Alaska and you have the makings of a piss-poor romantic comedy. Now, a lot of this story hinges on one tiny complication. See, for reasons I'm not willing to go into, I know a great deal about American visa application and I can happily inform you that when an American citizen marries an immigrant, they are permitted to live (and later work) in the United States. So, this whole film, the pretence of the vindictive immigration officer, the charade of a relationship for the family was wholly unnecessary. I would even go so far as to say the entire film was completely unnecessary. I'm not saying the INS don't investigate certain cases but they certainly don't conduct themselves in this manner - since when does knowing how many countries someone has visited or whether they have any curious sleeping habits constitute a bona fide relationship? From a technical point of view, it's actually a little difficult to slate this film - the setting and visuals are all rather entrancing and the cinematography, editing and score are all what you would expect from a release of this kind. People often forget the importance (and difficulty) of imbuing a film with a professional look and quality; this is why I have rated the film four as opposed to one (1 point for New York). The aspects that really kill this film are those that theatre and cinema were founded on: characters and story. The acting is flat, granted, but I only believe that to be the fault of the terrible script work and the limitations presented by such convenient scenarios and predictable outcomes. I devoted a large portion of my Bride Wars review whinging about my disdain for garden-variety marriage films and The Proposal is no different, offering nothing new or worthwhile other than a few silly slap-stick moments. Release Date: 24th July 2009 The Scene To Look Out For: During one random scene, the doting Grandmother is giving thanks to Mother Earth (I think that's right) and encourages Margaret to dance round a fire chanting whatever comes to mind. What eventually comes to mind is a rather brow furrowing dance and a poor acapella rendition of Lil Jon's Get Low - don't ask me how I know that God-awful song. It wasn't the inappropriate dancing in front of an eighty-something lady or Bullock mumbling, "the sweat drip from my balls" it was the fact that 2003 called and they want their over-used shitty song back. It was like hearing Smashmouth's fucking All Star. Notable Characters: I've stated on various occasions my appreciation for Ryan Reynolds as an actor. I find his sarcasm and overt comedic style rather entertaining. As such, his presence saved a great deal of this film. Secondly we have Mary Steenburgen who, although played a reasonably underwritten part, still managed to pull off some sort of mild credibility. Finally Bullock. Sandra Bullock usually annoys the hell out of me. Her nineties work is by-and-large reasonable but the last three years' releases have been so very sub-par... bar The Lake House... because I liked The Lake House. I may be wrong, it may simply be that her character was far too two dimensional to work with but at present she desperately needs to focus on a new angle. Highlighted Quote: MARGARET: "I'm not getting in that boat" ANDREW: "Well, then I'll see you in a few days" MARGARET: "I can't swim" ANDREW: "...hence the boat" In A Few Words: "In a word, nauseating; escapism to the nth degree" Total Score: 
4/10Matthew Stogdon |
