KNEEGOTIATION: Witchy book editor Margaret (Sandra Bullock) must give her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) something for his agreement to marry her and allow her to stay in the United States. It’s all in the romantic comedy The Proposal, which plays at the Fairmount Cinema 6 in Sebring.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TOUCHSTONE PICTURES
SEBRING, June 19, 2009 – Only one film opens in Highlands County this weekend. It’s the romaantic comedy The Proposal, which plays at the Fairmount Cinema 6.
The Transformers sequel opens June 23 (Tuesday) at the Regal Eagle Ridge 12 and at the Carmike.
The Proposal stars Sandra Bullock as a cutthroat book editor and Ryan Reynolds as the assistant she dominates… until she’s about to be deported because she’s Canadian! Bullock’s character orders her assistant to marry her, and the laughs begin.
Here’s a representative of what reviewers are saying about this PG-13 rated romantic comedy, which seems to average about a B-.
Knowing the standard romantic comedy setup just isn’t going to cut it anymore, director Anne Fletcher (Step Up, 27 Dresses) turns The Proposal into more of a screwball farce, letting the laughs fly without forcing them on us. …As an alternative to big summer action flicks and gross-out comedies, The Proposal is definitely the date movie du jour. – Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com
The Proposal is a serviceable and intermittently funny romance made enjoyable by the sparks between Bullock and Reynolds. – Claudia Puig, USA Today
The Proposal recycles a plot that was already old when Tracy and Hepburn were trying it out. You see it coming from a great distance away. As it draws closer, you don’t duck out of the way, because it is so cheerfully done, you don’t mind being hit by it. – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Ms. Bullock, who excels at playing spunky, is as appealing as usual, but the role proves as awkward as those heels. (Mr. Reynolds is equally likable, though more decorative than anything else.) She’s always been better in fundamentally independent roles that allow her to grab the wheel (“Speed”) and take the spotlight (the “Miss Congeniality” flicks), an independence that persists all the way through the last-act coupling. She can smile as brightly at a man as well as the next leading lady, though, like all genuinely big female stars, she’s really more of a solo act. – Manohla Dargis, New York Times
