The Proposal (2009)

While I champion originality and constantly call filmmakers to task for stealing too heavily from the ideas of past films to get a laugh (see my review of "The Hangover" for an example), I also believe that there are formulas in the world of film and that, if the pieces are right, can work, no matter how familiar. Such is the case, I felt, with THE PROPOSAL.

Lest you think I'm a total movie snob, I'm here to confess two things about THE PROPOSAL. The first would be the obvious one, and that is the fact that I could see every narrative turn of this paint-by-numbers plot coming at me from a mile away. If you had given me a pen and paper at the beginning and then hit pause on the movie 15 minutes in and asked me to write the rest of the script, I would have come damn close to what really unfolds. THE PROPOSAL is as original as a jello mold, and anyone who takes me seriously as a film reviewer would expect me to say it.

But on to my second point, and my real confession...I very much enjoyed this movie. I'm nervous to say I "loved" it because a guy has to maintain some dignity here. But I very much enjoyed it. And I'm going to focus this post on the two main reasons why despite the fact that everything points to THE PROPOSAL as recycled rom-com Hollywood drivel, I was charmed by it, even though most major critics nationwide - all of them sensible - dismissed the film for what it is.

1. Lesson #1: A great cast can transcend a basic script.

What a year for Sandra Bullock! I haven't had much of an opinion about her one way or the other, and movies like this are right in her wheelhouse, so this Golden Globe-nominated performance is hardly a stretch. But she has become acting comfort food to audiences just as the familiar plot here gives the average filmgoer just what they're looking for. Then you add in Ryan Reynolds, who was almost single-handedly the reason why I loved "Van Wilder," a film a man of my tastes has no business admitting to liking. He is boy-next-door charming but, lest you take that for granted, also possesses a natural sarcastic wit. Reynolds and Bullock play together here like a classic Hollywood screen couple. THE PROPOSAL not only benefits from these two leads, but from great support work from Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson and, most noticably, the unsinkable Betty White, who essentially steals scenes as the grandma. No matter how many times you've seen it all before, if the right actors are taking you back down Familiar Lane, you'll go willingly.

2. Lesson #2: Familiarity often breeds satisfaction.

When I teach my film class each year, I teach my students to understand the conventions of genres. What makes a genre a genre IS its repeated elements and characteristics. The romantic comedy certainly has its own elements. And while we spend a lot of time being critical of films that do nothing creative with the genre elements it chooses to play by, sometimes we overlook the fact that mainstream American audiences go to a film to see those exact, familiar elements play out just as they would expect them to. For the average person, severe genre deviations are a disappointment. "Fresh," for them, is defined by a new set-up and different actors, while everything else is the same. Don't get me wrong - I'm not that guy. That's not typically good enough for me. But I can also acknowledge that there are things that just work. And one of them is a love story that seems doomed to fail, one that is not easy. Because the payoff, no matter how telegraphed (and boy, is it ever here), is still satisfying on a gut, emotional level. Boy and girl hate each other at the beginning. There's no movie unless that changes by the end. Sometimes we judge the success on the movie based on how faithfully it adheres to conventions. Well, maybe not me, but that seems to be the criteria of the mass population, doesn't it?

I could spend just as much time picking apart THE PROPOSAL as I can telling you how much I like it. I could mention that the comedy in the second half of the film becomes much more ridiculous and broad that than more sly, dry comic moments of the film's first half. I could tell you that the director, Anne Fletcher, had nowhere to go but up after her piece of shit last film, "27 Dresses," one of the worst romantic comedies I have ever seen.

But it always comes down to the way the audience feels about the characters. And while in "27 Dresses" it was virtually impossible to like the lead female character, it wasn't as difficult here. Though Bullock's Margaret tries hard to be unlikeable, she has a heart - and we get to see it. We're okay with rooting for her. For all that is completely standard - or even sub-standard - about THE PROPOSAL, it hit me at the most basic level. I liked the people in it. And the rest, at least at the time that I watched it, was forgiveable.

3.0 out of 4