GREAT comedy has always been about timing and Sandra Bullock has always had great timing.
The Proposal is a Hollywood romantic comedy, which is honest enough to know what it is and not pretend it is more than it is.
Unlike so many of Hollywood comedies today, it doesn’t rely on crudity, rudeness or a lot of bad language for laughs. And it’s funny and entertaining.
To say it is ‘nice’ is just not today, a better word would be ‘appropriate’.
Today we hear a lot about inappropriate behaviour from footballers, cricketers, entertainers and celebrities. Yes, this is an ‘appropriate’ romantic comedy.
While the usual clichés are there – as are the usual characters (the ball-buster female boss, the disapproving father, the inappropriate grandmother) – this is somehow different.
Directed by Anne Fletcher (27 Dresses, Step Up) and written by first-time writer Peter Chiarelli, it manages to bring something different to what we have come to expect.
Margaret Tate (Bullock) is a cold, efficient, chief editor at a publishing company. Feared and disliked by her staff, she’s not easily challenged.
Her assistant-cum-dogsbody, Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds), jumps to her every command; he’ll even work over the weekend when he should be going home to celebrate his grandmother’s birthday.
Called upstairs to the boss’s office, Margaret is told by a US Immigration man that she’s being deported to her home country, Canada, because of a visa irregularity.
Luckily, Andrew enters the room, and tells Margaret the woman she wanted to speak to on the phone was engaged and he couldn’t get through.
Hearing the magic word ‘engaged’, Margaret, never slow on the uptake, tells the Immigration man she is engaged to be married to Andrew, making her entitled to a US Green Card, so she can stay.
Outside, Andrew is furious but does a deal with her.
He’ll marry her as long as he gets the promotion he’s always wanted and then after a few months, divorce her.
Suspicious, the US Immigration man digs deeper, forcing Andrew to take Margaret to meet his family in Alaska for the weekend weekend and celebrate his grandmother’s birthday.
This is where the fun really starts.
While his family insists they must wed here and now, Margaret has learnt something about life and family she never had and does the appropriate thing.
Andrew has also found something in Margaret he hadn’t realised before.
The Proposal (PG)
Directed by: Anne Fletcher
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds
Rating: Three and a half stars (107 mins)
Now screening